IBM To Nab BI Tech Firm Cognos
IBM said today it's entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Cognos, a firm that provides business intelligence technologies to K-12 and higher education and other sectors. The deal is still dependent on shareholder and regulatory approval and other conditions but is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008 and is valued at about $5 billion.
Cognos is a provider of several technologies used in education, including alumni management, enrollment and tuition planning, finance, human resources, marketing, and other business intelligence and performance management solutions based on open standards and built on a service-oriented architecture (SOA).
IBM said the deal supports its "Information on Demand strategy" and will result in IBM becoming "the leading provider of technology and services for business intelligence (BI) and performance management, delivering the industry’s most complete, open standards-based platform with the broadest range of expertise to help companies expand the value of their information, optimize their business processes, and maximize performance across their enterprises."
IBM said it will integrate Cognos as a group into its Information Management Software division following the acquisition and will appoint Rob Ashe, currently president and CEO of Cognos, to head up the group.
Cognos has more than 25,000 customers, including several colleges, universities, and school districts.
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