September 20, 2010 9:02 AM | Crain’s NY Business
(AP) – IBM said Monday it has agreed to pay $1.7 billion for Netezza Corp., a company that helps businesses sort through data on corporate servers.
Netezza’s software and hardware systems are designed to help companies use data about their businesses to make strategic decisions.
The personnel department of a company, for instance, could use tools provided by Netessa to figure out how their employee salaries stack up against the industry average.
IBM Corp. said it is offering $27 per share for Netezza, a 10% premium over Friday’s closing share price of $24.60.
Netezza, which is based in Marlborough, Mass., with about 500 employees, lists Neiman Marcus, Time Warner Inc. and Virgin Media Inc. among its customers.
The technology Netezza provides is referred to as “analytics,” an area where IBM said it has made 23 acquisitions totaling $12 billion over the past four years.