IBM is to buy Ascential Software for $1.1bn (£611m) in a
bid to bolster its family of software integration
products.
Ascential Software is provider of enterprise data integration
software, with 3,000 customers using Ascential’s solutions to build
enterprise datawarehouses, support business intelligence systems,
consolidate enterprise applications, create and manage repositories
of critical business information, and enable on demand data
access.
IBM says the acquisition will complement and strengthen its
growing information integration business which is a key part of its
information management suite of products, which achieved
triple-digit sales growth in 2004.
Ascential Software reported a 46% increase in sales in 2004 to
£151m. IBM said Ascential Software's solutions’ ability to quickly
gather, move and enhance the quality of large amounts of data
complements its Websphere Information Integrator product
portfolio.
"Information integration is an important enabler of an on demand
business strategy and customers are increasing their investments in
software that allows them to rapidly analyse, consolidate and
extract value from their business data," said Steve Mills, IBM
software group senior vice-president and group executive.
"The acquisition of Ascential Software expands IBM's open
information integration platform and strengthens our ability to
help customers create an environment that delivers the data they
need, in the right form, to the right location, and at the right
time. That is the mark of an on demand business," said Mills.