IBM completes $1.7B purchase of analytics appliances provider

IBM Corp. has completed its acquisition of Netezza Corp., a publicly held provider of high-performance analytics, which will expand IBM’s business analytics initiatives.

IBM paid $27 per share or approximately $1.7 billion in cash for the Marlborough, Mass., company.

Netezza’s data warehouse appliances put analytics directly into the hands of business users in every department of an organization including sales, marketing, product development and human resources, IBM said Nov. 11, in announcing the completion of the acquisition.

Its technology will be an essential component of the business systems that IBM is helping companies and organizations build to address the complex challenges presented by the exponential growth of data, the announcement said.

The simplicity of deploying Netezza appliances makes the technology ideal for the needs of high-performance analytics, requiring minimal administration and IT skills. They also enable clients to run complex data queries in days of deploying the appliance.

Netezza, a strategic partner of IBM’s for many years, will be integrated into IBM’s Information Management software portfolio to continue delivering workload optimized systems that provide integrated software, servers and storage for analyzing vast amounts of complex data.

IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire Netezza on Sept. 20.

In the past four years, IBM has invested more than $14 billion in 24 acquisitions to expand its analytics capabilities. IBM’s analytics business grew 14 percent in its third-quarter of 2010, the company said.

IBM Corp., of Armonk, N.Y., ranks No. 17 on Washington Technology’s 2010 Top 100 list of the largest federal government contractors.