14 DAY TRIAL // The 140 government, life sciences, manufacturing, electronics, consumer goods and financial services customers of a certain Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based company have probably learned by now that IBM bought their software supplier.
Long story short, IBM managed to score a deal through which it fully acquired Vivisimo, a private maker of data discovery and navigation software.
Vivisimo's programs can capture and deliver information across a broad range of data sources and regardless of format or source (sensors, social media, all the billions of mobile devices scattered across the world, etc.).
"Navigating big data to uncover the right information is a key challenge for all industries," said Arvind Krishna, general manager, information management, IBM Software Group.
"The winners in the era of big data will be those who unlock their information assets to drive innovation, make real-time decisions, and gain actionable insights to be more competitive."
Airbus, U.S. Air Force, Social Security Administration, Defense Intelligence Agency, U.S. Navy, Procter & Gamble, Bupa, and LexisNexis are just a few of the new clients that IBM will have to satisfy once the transaction is completed.
It remains to be seen if it is better at understanding consumer behavior, managing customer churn and network performance, detecting fraud in real-time and performing data-intensive marketing campaigns.
"Businesses need a faster and more accurate way to discover and navigate big data for analysis" said John Kealey, chief executive officer, Vivisimo.
"As part of IBM, we can bring clients the quickest and most accurate access to information necessary to drive growth initiatives that increase customer satisfaction, streamline processes, and boost sales."
The press release says that 120 Vivisimo employees will join IBM’s Software Group. Unfortunately, it doesn't specify if these are all the people Vivisimo currently employs or if there are more. We suspect it is the former, but you never know.