As of Friday Aug. 13th IBM announced they would be purchasing Unica a software analytics firm for $480 million. This all-cash deal will pay out $21 per share for Unica going from Thursday’s closing price of $9.55 a share to $20.76, an $11.21 increase. So why the premium purchase, IBM had said it was acquired to add more of a personal marketing service. Unica, which is known for helping its clients develop targeted campaigns using its analytic software that predicts customer preferences and behaviors. The analytics companies with a client list of 1,500 including eBay, Best Buy, Monster and US Cellular have all proven a successful track record to show why this deal will be a success.

IBM will integrate Unica’s 500 employees into its solutions and analytics team of 5,000 staff members. This purchase is only one of many that IBM has been working on, for the next five years IBM will be spending $20 billion buying up similar firms. In the recent past both analytics firms CoreMetrics and Sterling Commerce had been purchased by IBM.

With this move, IBM will have strengthened its portfolio within its software and service teams. This is an active approach to reach customers who may have gone to Oracle or Hewlett-Packard in the past.