In yet another deal in the data warehousing sector, IBM is to buy analytics outfit Netezza in a deal worth $1.7 billion (€1.2 billion)
IBM has offered $27 a share for the Massachusetts-based firm, which makes an appliance that offers high-performance analytics.
The deal comes a month after HP outlasted Dell in a bidding war for another data storage firm, 3Par.
Many investors are betting on a rival bid for Netezza, pushing the company’s share price up to $28.47, 5% above IBM’s offer, analysts said.
Netezza’s Nasdaq stock, which rose 15% in Monday’s trading, has almost doubled since the 3Par takeover battle began a month ago.
Terms of the agreement mean Netezza would have to pay IBM $56 million if it terminates the deal FT.com reported.
3Par paid Dell a $72 million fee last month in order to accept HP’s final offer.
High-speed analytics such as Netezza’s enable IT firms to offer real-time data crunching to large corporate and government customers
“The simplicity of deploying Netezza appliances makes this technology ideal for the needs of high-performance analytics, requiring minimal administration and IT skills, and enables clients to run complex data queries within days of deploying the solution,” IBM said.
Netezza’s clients include eHarmony, Neiman Marcus, Time Warner, NYSE Euronext and Virgin Media. Using its appliances, NYSE Euronext had drastically cut the time it takes to load and extract historical data, reducing runtimes “from hours to seconds,” IBM said.
IBM says it has spent more than $12 billion on 23 analytics-related acquisitions in the last four years. Its analytics business grew 14% in the last quarter.