IBM sweeps up MRO Software

With an eye toward building solutions based on service oriented architectures, IBM Corp. announced it plans to acquire MRO Software for about $740 million in an all-cash deal.

Leveraging MRO software and service oriented architecture, IBM of Armonk, N.Y., will build services solutions that enable clients to manage all these assets using a single, automated interface.

SOA enables organizations to integrate technology and data from different business processes. In this way, production equipment can be managed while also considering variables like capacity in production facilities, energy and haulage.

Following the acquisition, IBM plans to establish MRO as a unit within IBM's Tivoli software unit led by General Manager Al Zollar.

MRO makes industrial asset management software. It helps organizations manage and keep track of physical assets and all the related financial, operational and IT assets that go along with them.

Aviation companies, for one, use MRO to keep track of commercial and military aircraft, ground support equipment and hangars.

MRO of Bedford, Mass., has about 900 employees and had annual revenue of $199.2 million in fiscal 2005. Its U.S. federal government customers include NASA, the Air Force and Marines, and the departments of defense and treasury.

IBM, which has more than 329,000 employees and had annual sales of $91.1 billion in 2005, ranks No. 17 on Washington Technology's 2006 Top 100 list of the largest federal IT prime contractors.