| IBM
to acquire Canada's Cognos for $5 billion
12 November 2007
Mumbai:
International Business
Machines Corporation (IBM) will buy Canadian business intelligence software maker
Cognos Inc for $5 billion, or $58 a share.Cognos
makes software that analyses businesses by combing through vast amounts of data. The
price offered by IBM is a 9.5 per cent premium over Cognos' US closing share price
of $52.98 on the Nasdaq. IBM
said the all-cash deal is subject to shareholder approval and is expected to close
in the first quarter of 2008. Cognos
brings in a lot of synergy for Big Blue. IBM can integrate Cognos with its focus
on information integration and content and data management. Cognos, which is built
on a services oriented architecture, also plays well with IBM's SOA strategy. Cognos
CEO Rob Ashe will lead IBM's information management software division. Ashe will
report to General Manager Ambuj Goyal. Cognos
has a few interesting business intelligence applications on the drawing board,
notably better plug-ins with Excel and an array of Web 2.0 modules. The
acquisition of Cognos accelerates IBM's global Information on Demand initiative.
IBM will provide broader reach for Cognos solutions across multiple industries
and geographies with a more complete set of offerings, including consulting services,
hardware, and other middleware software. Cognos
provides the only complete BI and performance management platform, fully integrated
on an open-standards-based service oriented architecture (SOA), and has a strong
history of supporting heterogeneous application environments, consistent with
IBM's approach. With
Cognos, customers can turn data into actionable insight for coordinated, information-driven
decision-making to improve overall performance. Cognos will also extend IBM's
reach further into the CFO office with powerful financial planning and consolidation
capabilities, IBM said in a statement.  Cognos,
the 23rd IBM acquisition in support of its Information on Demand strategy, will
help the company deliver a broader set of business solutions across organisations,
beyond the traditional users of business intelligence, IBM said.
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