IBM Closes on Consul

ARMONK, N.Y. -- IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it has completed its acquisition of Consul risk management international, B.V., a privately-held software company headquartered in Delft, Netherlands, with a principal office in Herndon, Virginia.

IBM announced a definitive agreement to acquire Consul on December 5, 2006.

Consul's operations will be integrated into the IBM Software Group's Tivoli software brand. More than 350 customers around the world rely on Consul to accelerate their security audit and compliance efforts, including Ford, Kroger, Office Depot, Hanes and Fidelity Bank.

"As a customer of Consul since 1994 and IBM since 1970, the Philadelphia Stock Exchange is excited about this acquisition," said Bernie Donnelly, Vice President, Quality Assurance Group, Philadelphia Stock Exchange. "We already use the Consul zSecure suite as a hub for our security management and are looking forward to expanding our Consul InSight suite with IBM Tivoli Security Management products for an even more comprehensive security management solution.”

This acquisition builds upon IBM's Service Management initiative by adding key data governance and compliance monitoring, auditing and reporting capabilities across mainframe and distributed environments, a unique capability unmatched by other competitors. Service management provides the backbone for a wide range of business services. It weaves together processes for executing stock trades or delivering voice over IP calls. It also integrates processes that protect sensitive financial data from being accessed by intruders and helps companies share information about their products and customers.

IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM)