IT Business
IBM acquiring i2 for criminal mastermind software
IBM will use Cambridge-based company's Analyst's Notebook in its own criminal data analysis systems
By Joab Jackson | IDG News Service | Published 15:15, 01 September 11
IBM is in the process of acquiring Cambridge-based security analytics software provider i2, the companies announced on Wednesday.
IBM is currently expanding its portfolio of analytic software for state and local governments, although terms of the latest deal - which is expected to be completed by the end of the year - were not disclosed.
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Robert Griffin, CEO of, i2 said: "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."
Law enforcement agencies and corporate security departments use i2's software to pinpoint malfeasant activity within their logs of operational data. The British company's Analyst's Notebook digital forensic software can display a visual diagram of people, places, or other entities, showing how different parties are linked.
i2 has more than 4,500 customers across 150 countries. The company said that 12 of the top 20 retail banks use its software. The Boston Police Department and the Criminal Justice System in Orange County, California, share criminal data through i2's Coplink platform. In a £5.92 million contract, the US Army procured an enterprise licence to use Analyst's Notebook in its troubled Distributed Common Ground Systems - Army (DCGS-A) intelligence sharing system. Defence contractor Northrop Grumman folded i2's Coplink into a system it is providing to the Navy to track criminal information from multiple sources.
IBM plans to fuse i2's products with its own data collection, analysis and warehousing software. It will then offer packages based on these combinations to organisations looking to spot suspicious behaviour within vast collections of data.
i2, which currently has 350 employees, has US headquarters in Virginia. IBM will fold i2 into its software group.
IBM has been focusing more of its efforts on providing state and local government markets with analytics software and services, an effort it touts under the "Smarter Cities" marketing brand.
i2 is not related to software supply chain management software provider i2 Technologies, which was acquired by JDA Software group in 2010.
