IBM will acquire Sterling Commerce from AT&T for approximately $1.4 billion in cash.
Sterling Commerce, which is based near Columbus, Ohio, provides solutions for B2B integration, community management, secure file transfers, selling, order management, and logistics management. The company says 80 percent of the FORTUNE 500 use its solutions for business process integration, secure file transfers, multi-channel selling, supply chain fulfillment, and payment management, and that it enables more than 1 billion business interactions a year.
IBM sees these interactions growing dramatically due to the proliferation of electronic business transactions, from banks exchanging transaction data and manufacturers sourcing raw materials electronically, to retailers automating stock replenishment and managing orders online. Such intelligent transactions, and the software that supports them, help deliver the agility businesses need to be successful. This complements IBM’s middleware portfolio.
“Businesses today are operating in a highly competitive global environment in which lines between actions taking place within and outside an organization’s four walls are blurring,” said Craig Hayman, general manager, WebSphere, IBM. “This acquisition will give IBM new tools to help clients build dynamic business networks that connect partners, suppliers and clients and deliver a consistent customer experience across channels. In addition, the fact that much of this can be done in the cloud will make it compelling to large numbers of our customers.”http://www.sterlingcommerce.com
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