IBM is partnering with Anthropic to embed Claude AI models into its portfolio, including a new IDE for software developers.
The partnership will see Anthropic’s Claude models integrated into select IBM software products. The first major deliverable is the new AI-first IDE. This tool is specifically designed with advanced task-generation capabilities to improve the enterprise software development lifecycle, including complex projects like application modernisation.
While the new IDE is currently in a private preview for a select group of IBM clients, it has already been tested extensively within the tech giant itself. Early results from over 6,000 internal adopters are impressive, showing an average productivity gain of 45 percent. IBM reports this boost translates into meaningful cost savings without compromising code quality or security standards.
As organisations progress from initial AI experimentation to full-scale production deployments, the demand for solutions that can integrate smoothly with existing enterprise infrastructure and meet stringent IT requirements has grown. This is where IBM will tap into its long-standing expertise in enterprise software delivery, hybrid cloud architecture, and its experience within regulated industries to ensure AI tools like this new Claude-powered IDE are fit for purpose in complex global business operations.
“IBM has been the backbone of enterprise technology for decades because we understand what it takes to deploy at scale in mission-critical environments,” said Dinesh Nirmal, SVP of Software at IBM.
“This partnership enhances our software portfolio with advanced AI capabilities while maintaining the governance, security, and reliability that our clients have come to expect. We’re giving development teams AI that fits how enterprises work, not experimental tools that create new risks.”
Anthropic, known for its focus on AI safety, views the partnership as a way to bring its reliable models to a wider enterprise audience that prioritises trust and control.
“Enterprises are looking for AI they can actually trust with their code, their data, and their day-to-day operations,” commented Mike Krieger, Chief Product Officer at Anthropic.
“Claude has become the go-to AI for developers at the world’s largest companies because of our focus on safety and reliability. This partnership with IBM lets us bring that same level of dedication to even more enterprise teams while building the open standards that will make AI agents genuinely useful in business environments.”
The new IBM IDE, powered by AI models like Claude, is engineered to automate and enhance various aspects of the software development process across multiple programming languages. It shows particular promise in application modernisation at scale, where it can assist with automated system upgrades, framework migrations, and context-aware refactoring across extensive codebases.
IBM’s tool also enables intelligent code generation and review, providing AI assistance that comprehends enterprise architecture patterns, security needs, and compliance obligations. Beyond just writing code, it offers end-to-end orchestration, managing tasks from initial development through to testing, deployment, and maintenance while preserving context across different sessions. A security-first development approach is also embedded, enabling ‘shift-left’ vulnerability scans and expediting processes like FedRAMP hardening and the migration to quantum-safe cryptography.
Furthering their commitment to creating a standardised framework for enterprise AI, the two companies have jointly released a guide titled Architecting Secure Enterprise AI Agents with MCP. This guide introduces the Agent Development Lifecycle (ADLC), a structured methodology for designing, deploying, and managing enterprise AI agents. As businesses increasingly rely on agentic AI for autonomous decision-making, the ADLC provides a purpose-built approach to address the unique operational and security requirements of these advanced systems.
As part of this effort, IBM is contributing its enterprise technology leadership to advance open standards. The company will provide enterprise-grade assets to the Model Context Protocol (MCP) community, including best practice guides, reference architectures, and open-source tooling derived from its experience deploying AI for thousands of clients.
Looking ahead, IBM is exploring plans to incorporate Claude AI into additional products beyond its IDE. Together, IBM and Anthropic are positioning this as not just a product integration but as a foundational step toward a future for enterprise AI that delivers measurable improvements to developers’ workflows.
See also: GitLab launches custom AI agents and Knowledge Graph
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