IBM is adding supply chain management and business-to-business integration capabilities to its consulting organization with the acquisition of Viacore, announced Feb. 8.
The financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.
Viacore helps companies integrate with their suppliers. It offers a suite of software applications, dubbed BusinessTone, which it defines as an on-demand partner integration solution.
BusinessTone essentially synchronizes data between buyers and suppliers and then provides ongoing management, maintenance and support to keep data flowing accurately, according to Viacores Web site.
IBM recently put together a supply chain consulting practice based on its own supply chain transformation efforts, officials said. Viacore will become part of that practice, which focuses on procurement, logistics, strategy and planning. The consulting service also brings to the table analytics software from IBM.
IBM and Viacore have a fairly long-standing relationship. In July 2003 IBM announced its Business Integration Connect 4.2 software, part of its WebSphere line of integration software, to help companies better manage the process of trading information with partners. As part of that offering, IBM partnered with Viacore to provide services to help manage partner integrations and build trading communities.
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