The IBM and Anthropic partnership will integrate Claude into select internal and external development tools and enterprise products. IBM and Anthropic announced a strategic partnership to accelerate the development of enterprise-ready AI by infusing Anthropic’s Claude into IBM’s software portfolio. It is expected to deliver measurable productivity gains while integrating security, governance, and cost controls directly into the software development lifecycle.
Through the partnership, Claude will be integrated into select IBM software products, starting with IBM’s new AI-first integrated development environment (IDE), designed with advanced task generation capabilities for enterprise software development lifecycles (SDLC), including software modernization.
The IDE is currently available in private preview for selected IBM clients. During early testing, over 6,000 IBM early adopters have been using the new IDE, reporting an average productivity increase of 45 percent, which leads to significant cost savings while still ensuring code quality and security standards.
As organizations transition from AI experimentation to production deployment, they require solutions that integrate seamlessly with their existing enterprise infrastructure and meet stringent IT requirements. IBM brings proven capabilities in enterprise software delivery, hybrid cloud architecture, and regulated industry expertise to ensure that AI tools function effectively within the complex realities of global business operations.
IBM’s SVP of Software, Dinesh Nirmal, emphasizes that IBM has long been a cornerstone of enterprise technology, highlighting its expertise in large-scale, mission-critical deployments. He notes that the partnership enhances their software with advanced AI capabilities, prioritizing governance, security, and reliability. These are key concerns for enterprise clients. The AI tools are designed to integrate seamlessly into existing enterprise workflows, reducing new risks associated with experimentation.
Mike Krieger, Chief Product Officer at Anthropic, emphasizes that enterprises seek trustworthy AI for their critical operations, highlighting that Anthropic’s AI, Claude, is internationally recognized for its safety and reliability. The partnership with IBM aims to expand these benefits to more enterprise teams and develop open standards for AI agents in business, with a focus on trust, safety, and standardization.
Automating the Software Development Lifecycle
Using industry-leading LLMs, like Claude, the new IBM IDE is designed to help developers be more productive. It supports multiple languages and modes, with key use cases that assist developers in performing tasks throughout different stages of the software development lifecycle, including:
- Application modernization at scale: Automated system upgrades, framework migrations, and multi-step refactoring with context-awareness across large-scale codebases.
- Intelligent code generation and review: AI assistance that understands enterprise architecture patterns, security requirements, and compliance obligations.
- End-to-end orchestration: From initial development through testing, deployment, and maintenance, it orchestrates modernization, testing, and remediation tasks seamlessly while maintaining context across sessions.
- Security-first development: Embedding security directly into workflows, enabling “shift-left” vulnerability scans, expedited FedRAMP hardening, and facilitating quantum-safe cryptographic migration.
A Guide for Enterprise AI Agents with MCP Servers
As part of their partnership, IBM has developed, and Anthropic has verified, a groundbreaking guide titled “Architecting Secure Enterprise AI Agents with MCP.” This guide focuses on the Agent Development Lifecycle (ADLC), which provides a structured approach to designing, deploying, and managing enterprise AI agents. As organizations increasingly adopt agentic AI to facilitate autonomous decision-making and intelligent automation, traditional IT processes may become inadequate. The new ADLC methodology offers businesses a tailored, enterprise-ready approach for developing, operating, and securing AI agents within their organization’s environment.
Beyond expanding IBM’s software portfolio, IBM is sharing its enterprise technology leadership to promote open standards for AI deployment. IBM will supply enterprise-grade assets to the Model Context Protocol (MCP) community, including best practices guides, reference architectures, and open-source tools developed from IBM’s experience deploying AI in numerous client environments.
IBM plans to include Claude in additional IBM products as part of a product integration approach. Together, IBM and Anthropic are shaping the future of enterprise AI, one that empowers developers, drives transformation, and delivers long-term value for clients and society.
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