It was one of the worst-kept secrets in the technology sector M&A market of the year: IBM confirmed it is buying database security firm Guardium.
In the official press release financial terms were not disclosed, though it had been reported that the deal was valued at around $225m.
“Guardium gives clients unprecedented visibility and control over their data access activities while taking advantage of automation to deliver rapid return on investment,” said Ram Metser, Guardium CEO. “The combination of IBM and Guardium provides clients with a comprehensive solution for safeguarding critical enterprise information and preventing fraud without the complexity of traditional approaches.”
IBM said it will integrate Guardium within IBM’s Information Management Software portfolio, which it claims has more than 35,000 experts dedicated to, “helping clients use information as a strategic asset to transform their business”. This marks the 28th acquisition to support the Information Management initiative.
I recently recorded a podcast with the head of that division, Ambuj Goyal, in which I asked him about another recent acquisition, that of predictive analytics form SPSS. You can listen to that podcast here.
My analysis of why IBM would want to acquire Guardium, meanwhile, is here.