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IBM, which has pledged to invest $1 billion over the next three years on developing information management products and services, announced Nov. 2 a deal with business intelligence software developer Business Objects that should help further that mission.
The two companies plan to jointly develop and sell new business intelligence-based software using IBMs hardware, software and services.
At the same time, IBM and Business Objects plan to expand the Business Objects Center of Competency, a services organization that will be staffed by Business Objects and IBM services folks.
Business Objects Center of Competency is located at IBMs Pacific Development Centre in Burnaby, Canada.
IBM and Business Objects share thousands of joint customers.
As part of their expanded alliance—the two companies have been partners for 12 years—the companies will invest in several product areas, including the development of on-demand software for the retail, financial services, government, health care and life sciences vertical markets.
Theyll also work to jointly develop the next generation of Business Objects BI software, including BI Web services components that are increasingly part of users SOA (service-oriented architecture) implementations.
IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., will build out a dedicated team to provide more sales coverage for Business Objects software; Business Objects, for its part, said it will work to sell IBMs software and underlying hardware.
Business Objects said it will continue to optimize its software for IBMs software, hardware and services offerings.
Both companies will look to penetrate the often difficult-to-reach and fragmented middle market.
“Companies around the world are embracing open standards as they look to unlock and extract the value from their data,” said Janette Beauchamp, general manager of Global Alliance Solutions at IBM, in a statement.
“By combining the strengths of IBM and Business Objects, were going to deliver powerful Information On Demand solutions.”