*NEWS*IBM TO BUY SOFTWARE MAKER FOR $1.1B

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Date: Sunday March 20, 2005 10:40:00 am
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    IBM to buy software maker for $1.1 billion
    Ascential Software’s systems aimed at helping firms manage
    datA

    NEW YORK-International Business Machines Corp. is buying Ascential Software Corp.,which
    makes software that helps business manage data, for $1.1 billion in cash.
    Ascential shares rose more than 16 percent in early trading.

    IBM said Monday the
    acquisition addresses a key customer challenge — applying technology to respond
    more quickly to changing market conditions.

    Ascential is a
    “data integration” company, offering businesses software that integrates data
    from disparate sources. For instance, IBM said that retailers use Ascential’s
    software to gather, standardize and structure sales information from multiple
    sources, such as the Internet, catalogs and stores, and make rapid inventory and
    pricing adjustments in response to changing market demands.

    Revenue at
    Ascential, a publicly held company based in Westboro, Mass., rose 46 percent to
    $271.9 million in 2004. The company has 3,000 customers in businesses such as
    insurance, financial services, manufacturing, consumer goods and government, it
    said in its latest annual report.

    The company, which
    was incorporated in 1986, had 856 employees at the end of 2003, according to the
    annual report.

    Ascential sold its
    database software systems business, called Informix Software, to IBM for $1
    billion during the third quarter of 2001.

    IBM has been a
    reseller of Ascential Software’s products and accounted for more than 10 percent
    of the company’s revenue in 2002, according to the annual report.

    The purchase price
    of $18.50 a share is a 17.8 percent premium over Ascential’s closing price of
    $15.70 on Friday on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Ascential shares surged $2.59, or
    16.5 percent, to close at $18.29 in Monday trading on the Nasdaq Stock
    Market.

    The acquisition is
    subject to approval by regulators and Ascential Software shareholders, and is
    expected to close in the second quarter of 2005.

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