IBM To Acquire Security Threat, Fraud Detection Software Developer

IBM will combine the i2 software with its data collection and data warehousing technologies to help government agencies and businesses such as banks and insurance companies analyze huge volumes of data for security tasks.

The two companies expect to close the acquisition by the end of the year, subject to closing conditions and regulatory reviews. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Once the acquisition is complete i2 will become part of the IBM Software Group, the company said.

Business analytics is a major focus for IBM and revenue from business analytics software and services grew 20 percent in the first half of 2011. In the last five years IBM has made 25 business analytics-related acquisitions, including i2, totaling more than $14 billion.

The i2 software combines analytical and visualization capabilities with real-time information sharing tools that help analysts identify connections, patterns and relationships within huge volumes of data. A bank, for example, can use the software to recognize fraudulent financial transactions while a government intelligence agency can spot a potential security threat while analyzing phone call records.

The i2 software is used within the banking, retail, insurance and health-care industries, by local and state law enforcement organizations, and by national security and law enforcement agencies, IBM said. The software is used by 12 of the world's 20 largest retail banks, for example. Altogether the vendor has 4,500 customers in 150 countries.

"The combination of i2's products and IBM’s advanced data collection and warehousing technologies will be compelling for clients seeking to enhance situational awareness and make connections between seemingly unrelated information from oceans of data," said Robert Griffin, i2's CEO, in a statement.

Based in Cambridge, U.K. , i2 has U.S. offices in McLean, Va., and Tucson, and in Canada and Australia.