IBM has snapped up Cognos in an all-cash transaction priced at approximately $5bn.
The acquisition seeks to build on IBM's push into information integration, content and data management and business consulting services, further bolstering its software portfolio.

Ottawa-based Cognos provides software for building business reports and performance management dashboards.

The acquisition is IBM's 23rd in support of its Information on Demand strategy, which the company hopes will help it reach beyond the traditional business user base to a broader set of users across the enterprise.

Recent IBM acquisitions include Princeton Softech (data archiving and compliance), FileNet (enterprise content management), Ascential Software (information integration), DataMirror (changed data capture), SRD (entity analytics), Trigo (product information management), DWL (customer information management) and Alphablox (analytics).

"Customers are demanding complete solutions, not piece parts, to enable real-time decision making," said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive at IBM Software Group.

"IBM has been providing business intelligence solutions for decades. Our broad set of capabilities, from data warehousing to information integration and analytics, position us well for the changing business intelligence and performance management industry.

"We chose Cognos because of its industry-leading technology based on open standards, which complements IBM's service oriented architecture strategy."

The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter of 2008 and is subject to Cognos shareholder approval, regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions.