IBM Wraps Up Unica Buy, Touts Marketing App Lineup

IBM wrapped up its $480 million acquisition of interactive marketing software developer Unica, the company said Wednesday, adding another component to its growing lineup of e-commerce and online marketing applications.

IBM said Unica's approximately 500 employees have become part of the IBM Software Solutions Group.

IBM announced that it was acquiring Waltham, Mass.-based Unica in August.

Unica develops software for interactive marketing and brand management tasks, including analyzing data about customer preferences and predicting future behavior and using those insights to develop targeted marketing campaigns.

Earlier this year IBM acquired Coremetrics, a supplier of Web analytics software. IBM said the combination of Unica and Coremetrics would provide businesses with a comprehensive system for customer marketing and communications while reducing marketing costs.

"IBM is committed to helping CMOs address the challenges facing marketing organizations today," said Craig Hayman, general manager of the IBM Industry Solutions Group, in a statement. "Together, the Unica and Coremetrics acquisitions help deliver the customer insight our clients demand, along with the measurable results they are seeking across sales channels."

NEXT: Complete Marketing Software Lineup

"We will support the Web analytics investments Unica and Coremetrics customers have made by delivering industry-leading Web analytics capabilities for line-of-business users and analysts, both on-premises and in cloud environments," IBM's Hayman said.

IBM also acquired e-commerce software developer Sterling Commerce earlier this year for $1.4 billion. That technology, combined with IBM's WebSphere Commerce system and the Unica and Coremetrics applications, gives IBM a potent lineup of software for marketing, demand generation, sales process automation, order processing and fulfillment operations, the company said.