IBM to Acquire Initiate Systems

IBM announced this morning that it will acquire Initiate Systems, a privately held identity management and data management tools vendor with a significant healthcare presence as well as products for government agencies.

"With the addition of Initiate’s software and its industry expertise, IBM will offer clients a comprehensive solution for delivering the information they need to improve the well-being of patients at a lower cost," said Arvind Krishna, general manager, Information Management, IBM. "Similarly, our government clients will now have even more capabilities for gathering and making use of information to serve citizens in a timely and efficient manner."  

Some of Initiate’s hospital customers include Ochsner Health System, UPMC, and Sutter Health. Initiate acquired interoperability technology vendor Accenx Technologies on October 30.

IBM competitor Informatica announced last week that it will acquire data integration systems vendor Siperian, leading to speculation that IBM would quickly follow with its Initiate move. The CEO of another data management competitor, Kalido, said this morning: “"By acquiring a niche vendor like Initiate, they bolster their portfolio of industry-specific tools that help integrate data, but do little to provide a stronger information management platform for their customers. This acquisition will be delivered like so many others; with dozens of IBM global services consultants to ‘knit’ the patchwork of tools together."