IBM To Acquire MRO Software

The deal, intended to fill out IBM's portfolio of service-oriented architecture products, is the second SOA-motivated acquisition that the IT giant announced this week. On Wednesday, IBM said it's buying SOA developer Webify Solutions.

MRO has been in business for nearly 40 years and has been a close IBM partner for the past decade. MRO specializes in serving industries such as energy, manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and aerospace/defense. MRO's flagship Maximo Enterprise Suite (MXES) product helps client track assets like production equipment, facilities and IT hardware.

IBM views the MRO acquisition as an SOA play because the MXES software has a WS-I-compliant framework, allowing customers to build around Web services components generated for each business process in the suite.

IBM Global Services plans to draw on MRO's technology in its client projects, and IBM Tivoli General Manager Al Zollar called the deal "indicative of the growing partnership between IBM's software and services."

MRO has a staff of 900, and company executives said they expect most employees to join IBM. Plans call for MRO CEO Chip Drapeau to stay with IBM as part of Zollar's team and, in the near future, for MRO to operate as a unit of IBM's Tivoli division.

MRO had revenue of $199.2 million for its last fiscal year, ended Sept. 30. Pending shareholder and regularly approvals, IBM expects the MRO acquisition to close next quarter.