|
IBM is to buy Ascential Software, a publicly held company based in Westboro, MA. The cash deal amounts to $1.1 billion.
Ascential Software specializes in enterprise data integration software. Businesses around the world use Ascential software for data warehouses, business intelligence systems, consolidating their applications, creating and managing master repositories of business information, and enabling on demand data access. For example, some large retailers use Ascential's software to gather, standardize and structure sales information from many channels (Internet, catalogs, storefronts, for example). That allows them a single view of vendors and customers from disparate systems, and lets them make rapid inventory and pricing adjustments as demand changes.
IDC, a global market intelligence and advisory firm in the information technology and telecommunications industries, projects that worldwide data integration spending will increase from $9.3 billion in 2003 to $13.6 billion in 2008. IDC reports that the top three business issues most organizations say need to be addressed through integration are to respond faster to changing business needs, improve operational productivity of employees, and provide better service to customers.
"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 analyze, consolidate and extract value from their business data," said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive, IBM Software Group. "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's the mark of an on demand business."
Learn more:
IBM to Acquire Ascential Software (press release)
Ascential Software (web site)
|
