IBM Completes Acquisition of Initiate Systems

ARMONK, N.Y., March 1 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced the closing of its acquisition of Initiate Systems, a privately held software company with a focus on data integrity and master data management technologies.   Initiate's software helps clients in many industries -- particularly in healthcare and government -- share information across multiple systems to improve the services they provide to patients, citizens and customers.

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The closing comes less than a month after IBM's announcement on February 3 that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Initiate.

Organizations in both healthcare and government have invested heavily in enterprise software applications as they seek greater operational efficiency and productivity. The proliferation of these applications has yielded huge volumes of information about people, places and things.  This information is fragmented across operating environments and often represented inconsistently.  Initiate's technology helps gather this data no matter where it resides to establish a single, multi-purpose view of critical business information, which is also known as master data.

Initiate's software helps healthcare clients work more intelligently and efficiently with timely access to patient and clinical data.  By adding Initiate's software to its software portfolio, IBM will be better equipped to help clients draw on data from hospitals, doctors' offices and payers to create a single, trusted shareable view of millions individual patient records.  The acquisition will also enhance IBM's ability to enable governments to access information from multiple systems and agencies to provide better services to citizens.  

"IBM's acquisition of Initiate underscores our commitment to using advanced technology to help solve problems faced by both healthcare agencies and governments around the world," said Arvind Krishna, general manager, Information Management, IBM.  "Through better access to trusted information, these clients can serve people better and more efficiently."

Initiate's healthcare clients include payers and providers as well as retailers selling prescription drugs. Among these clients are Alberta Ministry of Health and Wellness, BMI Healthcare (UK), Calgary Health Region, CVS/Caremark, Humana, Ochsner Health System, the State of North Dakota's Department of Health and Human Services and the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center.

In keeping with the company's software strategy, Initiate's technologies and operations will be integrated into IBM's Information Management business, expanding its capabilities for establishing, delivering and analyzing trusted information for clients across all industries and geographic regions.  Initiate employees will join IBM.

Through its acquisition of Initiate IBM is also extending its capabilities in business analytics -- one of its primary investment areas -- by enhancing its ability to deliver a foundation of trusted information.  In addition to Initiate, IBM has invested $10 billion in 14 strategic acquisitions to build its business analytics portfolio since 2005. These acquisitions delivered strong results in 2009, generating 9 percent revenue growth at constant currency. Among the company's offerings in this area is a new Business Analytics and Optimization Consulting organization which is supported by team of 4,000 consultants and a network of analytics solution centers.

For more information, visit IBM Business Analytics and Optimization.

SOURCE IBM