IBM to acquire CrossAccess.

IBM has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire the software assets of CrossAccess Corporation, a privately held company in Santa Clara, California.

The acquisition is expected to close later this month. Financial details were not disclosed.

CrossAccess is a provider of infrastructure software that enables corporations to access information stored in mainframe databases and make it available for use with new business applications. According to industry estimates, nearly 60 percent of corporate business information resides on mainframes today.

The acquisition further strengthens IBM's enterprise information integration capabilities, a key strategic priority for its Data Management efforts and the company's on demand computing initiatives.

According to industry analysts, the market opportunity for business integration software is expected to exceed $10 billion by 2006. IDC also estimates that companies are now spending as much as 40 percent of their annual IT budgets on integration.

With today's acquisition, IBM is further extending its information integration capabilities to help companies manage all forms of information across the enterprise. DB2 Information Integrator software enables organizations to build on their existing IT infrastructure and reduce the time and costs associated with integrating their diverse data environments.

With CrossAccess technology integrated into DB2 Information Integrator software, IBM will be uniquely positioned to deliver the most comprehensive enterprise information integration infrastructure in the industry. No other software vendor provides this depth and breadth of integration capabilities.

"Businesses today are faced with the challenge to drive more value from their existing information assets, said Janet Perna, general manager, IBM Data Management Software. "With the addition of CrossAccess technology and its expertise in mainframe data access, IBM is bringing more value to customers faster in helping them leverage their information across and beyond the enterprise."

"IBM is the leader in helping customers implement an open information integration infrastructure," said George Langan, president, CrossAccess Corporation. "CrossAccess technology integrates seamlessly with DB2 Information Integrator, enabling businesses to access and integrate mainframe data with other information assets to realize productivity gains and enhance business insight."

There are more than 60 million DB2 users from 425,000 companies worldwide relying on IBM DB2 Data Management Solutions. IBM is the only data management software vendor to provide customers with integrated solutions for database management, tools, content management, enterprise information integration and business intelligence.