In a move to strengthen its standing in the service-orientated architecture (SOA) market, IBM is acquiring privately-held AptSoft, a Massachusetts-based provider of complex event processing (CEP) software, for an undisclosed sum.
IBM says AptSoft's products - which will become part of the WebSphere brand - will strengthen its SOA and business process management (BPM) offerings.
"AptSoft complements IBM's SOA strategy and augments our business events capabilities to help our customers maximise their existing investments in SOA," says Tom Rosamilia, general manager, WebSphere software, IBM.
AptSoft's technology analyses systems events in real time to help companies identify patterns and establish connections between events before triggering a response. IBM says event processing is proving increasingly important because it allows companies to respond to minute market changes to seize opportunities or mitigate risk.
The technology can be used in trading to uncover and compare changes throughout global markets to support buy/sell decisions and ensure the timely execution of bids, says IBM. It can also be used by e-commerce vendors to help identify fraud.