IBM completes acquisition of SPSS Inc.

Armonk, NY .- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has completed its acquisition of SPSS Inc. (Nasdaq: SPSS), a publicly-held company headquartered in Chicago. IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire SPSS on July 28, 2009.

IBM’s acquisition of SPSS further strengthens IBM’s business analytics and optimization strategy by providing predictive analytic capabilities that can help customers predict future events and proactively act upon that insight to drive better business outcomes.

With this acquisition, IBM expands its focus on business analytics and optimization designed to meet growing customer needs to cut costs, reduce risk and drive profitable growth. The acquisition, along with IBM’s existing software and services portfolio, will enable business leaders and CIOs to leverage trusted information and analytics for better, faster decisions and continuous optimization throughout the organization.

The addition of SPSS will help IBM deliver market-leading, comprehensive predictive analytics capabilities including data collection for market research and feedback management, text and data mining, advanced statistical analysis and predictive solutions, enabling customers to gain insights into complex questions, predict potential future outcomes and take action.

The acquisition strengthens the range of offerings available through the recently announced IBM Business Analytics and Optimization consulting organization, with its 4,000 consultants lending expertise to help clients better use their information for smarter business outcomes. And, it is in alignment with IBM’s broader business strategy, which combines organic growth with acquisitions to move the company into higher value capabilities that accelerate margin expansion.

SPSS will be integrated into IBM’s Information Management software portfolio and the many industry offerings already available. Predictive analytics will also be an essential component of the smarter business systems that IBM is helping companies and organizations build to help address the complex challenges presented by the exponential growth of data.