Armonk, New York USA — IBM (NYSE: IBM) has agreed to acquire i2 to accelerate its business analytics initiatives. These will be designed to help clients in the public and private sectors address crime, fraud and security threats. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
With more than 4,500 customers in 150 countries, i2 is a leading provider of intelligence analytics for crime and fraud prevention based in Cambridge, UK, with US headquarters in McLean, Virginia. i2’s clients span multiple sectors globally such as banking, defence, healthcare, insurance, law enforcement, national security and retail. i2 solutions are currently used by 12 of the top 20 retail banks globally and eight of the top 10 largest companies in the world.
Organisations in both the public and private sectors today are facing an exponential increase in “big data” — information and intelligence coming from disparate and unstructured sources including social media, biometrics and criminal databases. When it is accessible to the people who need it, this information can be used to anticipate potential problems, make better, faster decisions, and coordinate resources to deliver exceptional service to citizens and customers.
This acquisition is designed to give IBM the lead in helping clients to harness data through the addition of i2’s intelligence analysis and tactical lead generation capabilities. i2’s systems and services help cities, nations, international bodies and private enterprises combat fraud and security threats.
Fraud and security threat reduction is of strategic importance across all industries today. According to FBI statistics, in 2009 there were 1.3 million violent crimes, 9.3 million property crimes and 6.3 million acts of larceny / thefts in the United States*. Consumer-facing fraud for retailers alone costs US$100 billion a year in the United States**.
In response to these threats, businesses and government agencies are seeking to empower public safety officers, analysts, managers, detectives and investigators with industry-specific intelligence analysis and operational insight solutions. For example, government agencies today are concerned with increased threats to public safety, which are driving the need for secure information sharing.
“IBM’s goal is to better equip public safety officials and businesses with the information and tools they need to ensure safer cities,” said Craig Hayman, General Manager of Industry Solutions at IBM. “The combined capabilities of IBM and i2 will help customers uncover patterns and trends that will allow them to more effectively protect the privacy and safety of citizens, businesses and governments.”
“The combination of i2’s products and IBM’s advanced data collection and warehousing technologies will be compelling for clients seeking to enhance situational awareness and make connections between seemingly unrelated information from oceans of data,” said Robert Griffin, CEO, i2. “i2’s existing clients will be at home with IBM, a company known for its ability to help organisations make the most of their data assets.”
Using IBM real-time analytical solutions in combination with the technologies of i2, public agencies and private enterprises battling fraud will now have the capability to better collect, analyse and process all the relevant data at their disposal. In the past, data overload often led to critical information or opportunities being missed. Now local, state and federal authorities can harness new intelligence to instantly detect and respond to security threats. Investigative leads can be identified quickly, helping government agencies solve crimes faster and keep officers and communities safer.
With IBM and i2, clients will have access to a range of visualisation and multi-dimensional analytics for the timely delivery of intelligence, including threat and fraud analytics. These tools will help analysts quickly identify connections, patterns and trends in complex data sets and easily model data in the way they think, in a single environment yielding faster analysis results, strategic reports and bulletins.
i2 will be integrated into IBM’s Software Group, which is a key driver of growth and profitability for the company. Headquartered in the UK, i2 has 350 employees and additional offices in McLean, Virginia; Tucson, Arizona; Ottawa, Ontario; and Canberra, Australia. The acquisition is anticipated to close in the fourth quarter of 2011, subject to the satisfaction of customary closing conditions and applicable regulatory reviews.
*Crime in the United States, 2009 US Department of Justice — FBI September 2010
** LexisNexis True Cost of Fraud Study 2009
