This week IBM announced its plans to acquire Sterling Commerce, an e-commerce company and provider of cross-channel fulfillment solutions, for $1.4 billion. While IBM already participates in e-commerce with its WebSphere division, the integration of Sterling Commerce will add collaboration, communication and integration solutions for fulfillment, as well as a stellar client list with more than 18,000 customers worldwide, including 80% of the Fortune 500 list.
From a technology standpoint Craig Hayman, general manager of IBM's WebSphere division noted that the cloud computing model which Sterling employs is attractive to IBM. He also noted that many of IBM’s current customers are looking for easy-to-scale solutions, which make them great candidates for migration into the cloud.
From an industry perspective, it’s great to see giants like IBM expanding their reach into e-commerce as it further validates our fast-growing industry. The move will help IBM to better position itself against the likes of tech giants HP, Cisco, and SAP. It also represents a greater business goal of the company, which is to grow through acquisition. IBM has said that the company plans to spend $20 billion on acquisitions by 2015 and its purchase of Sterling Commerce is certainly a good start.
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