Recently, IBM announced its purchase of Netezza for $1.7 billion. Netezza, creates solutions that combine hardware and software for business intelligence, and its applications have revolutionized the way data is analyzed and processed. Its capabilities include the ability to generate insights from all of the compiled data from web, purchase transactions, sensors, call center reports and other resources. IBM saw the breakthroughs that Netezza was making, and saw an immediate fit for their hybrid business intelligence strategy.
Over the past four years, IBM has steadily been investing into business intelligence, spending $12 billion on 23 purchases into the BI solutions market. IBM was seeking a way go beyond just software, and to integrate the software with hardware to create a faster process for business intelligence. The idea has been to generate real-time answers and predictions about “today’s” trends for the current dynamic business environment
The ability to analyze data immediately, and not just after it has been stored into a database has been the goal of most business intelligence solution providers. John Schwarz, chief executive of Business Objects, said “Massive amounts of data that can be analyzed instantly has tremendous value.”
Most major companies have been steadily making a move into business intelligence solutions, Oracle picked up Hyperion, IBM snatched Cognos in one of its many acquisitions, and SAP grabbed Business Objects. With their latest purchase, it becomes more clear that IBM will continue to strive in making breakthroughs in BI solutions that will create a hybrid BI solution that will probe valuable data faster and smarter.
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