Headlines:
IBM Buys a Data Mining Vendor
International Business Machines Corp. said Wednesday that it had acquired Alphablox Corp., which makes business intelligence tools for corporate data mining and related functions.
IBM would not disclose the price.
The Armonk, N.Y., technology giant also said it will integrate the privately held Alphablox into its information management software business. That business will then be known as DB2 Alphablox. (IBM's DB2 database is used by 425,000 companies around the world.)
The Alphablox tools work with other database products, such as those produced by Oracle Corp., Microsoft Corp., and Sybase Inc., IBM said.
Alphablox, of Mountain View, Calif., has clients in the telecommunications, retail, manufacturing, health care, and financial services industries, among others. Its tools feature modular, reusable components, which it calls "blox," that use the Java programming language and other open technology standards to draw information from various data repositories and discern patterns, such as customer buying trends.
An IBM spokeswoman said that about one-third of Alphablox's customers are financial services companies, including ABN Amro Holding NV, Bank of America Corp., Bank One Corp. (now part of J.P. Morgan Chase & Co.), Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce, and Royal Bank of Canada.
Alphablox says a bank could use its tools to improve branch profitability or to track lending trends in a scorecard format.
According to IBM, the analytical tools could be embedded within existing automated business processes to enable companies to view information from multiple sources and make faster decisions.
IBM said it would integrate Alphablox's technologies into several of its middleware offerings, including its data warehouse product, its WebSphere suite for online presentation of information, and its Rational Software toolset for application development.
TCF, Digital Insight Extend Contract
TCF Financial Corp. has extended its contract with Digital Insight Corp. to provide TCF National Bank with online cash management technology for corporate customers.
The Wayzata, Minn., banking company made the original agreement with Magnet Communications Inc. in March 2001. Digital Insight of Calabasas, Calif., acquired Magnet in November 2003.
The contract extension, announced Tuesday, applies to a product developed by Magnet that Digital Insight now owns.
"Our commercial customers have been very pleased with the functionality, reliability, and usability of our online cash management service," Ron Britz, the senior vice president of cash management at TCF Bank, said in a press release.
The $11.3 billion-asset bank has and more than 400 branches in Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Colorado.
