IBM is set to acquire risk management software maker Consul to pump up its Tivoli security and service management software suites.
IBM today announced plans to acquire risk management software maker Consul, which Big Blue says will add compliance-specific monitoring, auditing and reporting to its Tivoli security management portfolio.
IBM, which did not disclose the financial details of the deal, says it expects the acquisition to close in the first quarter of 2007. Upon approval, Consul would become part of IBM’s Tivoli software unit.
Consul, a privately held company, provides compliance and security audit software that helps companies such as American Express manage internal and external risk across their organizations. Its 350 customers include Ford, Kroger, Office Depot, Hanes and Fidelity Bank.
According to IBM, Consul provides an “auditor-in-a-box” for compliance initiatives using a single management dashboard, and the company’s technology can span IBM platforms, including mainframe environments. The software is expected to enhance Tivoli’s security and service management offerings.
“Consul is uniquely capable of rounding out the IBM portfolio to help clients more fully address compliance around access to private information to help reduce risk in their organizations,” said Al Zollar, general manager, IBM Tivoli Software, in a statement. “IBM and Consul will be able to offer integrated security management and powerful user activity monitoring across the entire IT infrastructure from devices and systems to applications in both traditional and service-oriented architectures.”
Industry watchers speculate that while IBM can benefit from adding technologies to its product portfolio, Big Blue is also interested in gaining new customers to which it can sell additional products.
“I honestly think that IBM is more interested in customer lists,” says Jasmine Noel, a co-founder and principal analyst with Ptak, Noel and Associates. “It seems to me that IBM’s sales organization is much better at growing existing relationships than it is at developing new ones. Most of their acquisitions, starting with Candle, Micromuse, MRO Software, Vallent, and now Consul, have lists of happy customers in the hundreds with little overlap with Tivoli’s existing customer base.”
When the deal is final, Consul will represent IBM’s 11th software company acquisition in 2006.
