IBM to Acquire Micromuse Inc.

HostReview.com
Wednesday, December 21, 2005; 10:23 AM

IBM  (www.ibm.com) and Micromuse Inc.announced the two companies have entered into a definitive agreement for IBM to acquire the equity of Micromuse Inc., a publicly held company based in San Francisco, in an all-cash transaction at a price of approximately $865 million, or $10 per share. 

The acquisition is subject to Micromuse shareholder and regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. It is expected to close in the first quarter of the 2006 calendar year.

Micromuse is a leading provider of network management software used by banks, telecommunications carriers, governments, retailers and other organizations to monitor and manage their sophisticated technology infrastructures. The software helps customers manage increasingly complex IT systems that support the proliferation of voice and video traffic, in addition to data, due to the growing adoption of voice over IP (VoIP), audio and video services delivered over the Internet.

“Today's networks are no longer just pipelines of data -- customers are incorporating data, voice and video into their business operations at an astounding pace," said Al Zollar, General Manager, IBM Tivoli software.

The delivery of network-based services -- such as data, voice and video -- over the Internet in real time is creating new avenues for content, such as streaming music videos delivered to cell phones.

Micromuse technology also helps companies quickly diagnose the performance of their IT environments, allowing them to automatically analyze and resolve network outages and performance problems, such as system overloads caused by spikes in web traffic.

The acquisition will strengthen the IT service management capabilities of IBM's Tivoli software portfolio, which has produced double-digit revenue growth for the first three quarters of 2005. 

IBM is the world's largest information technology company, with 80 years of leadership in helping businesses innovate. Drawing on resources from across IBM and key Business Partners, IBM offers a wide range of services, solutions and technologies that enable customers, large and small, to take full advantage of the new era of e-business.