IBM Forms Independent Firm For Client Management Software

International Business Ma-chines Corp. has created an independent software company by consolidating some acquisitions into a single business focused on customer relationship management.

This company, which has not been named, brings together the products of Software Artistry, call-center technologies from Early, Cloud & Co., and IBM computer telephony products such as Callpath and DirectTalk.

Its headquarters will be in Indianapolis, with sales, development, and support locations worldwide. It will have several hundred employees.

The company will offer software for all aspects of front-office relationship management. It also will provide technologies that integrate new marketing systems with older legacy computers, as well as decision support programs and advanced customer access methods such as computer- telephony integration.

W. Scott Webber, former chief executive officer of Software Artistry, is the new company's CEO. In 1997, IBM bought Tivoli Systems, which bought Indianapolis-based Software Artistry in January 1998. IBM bought Early Cloud in 1995.

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