IBM announced today that it will aquire Netezza for $1.7 billion in cash to expand its business analytics offering - see article. The acquisition is subject to Netezza shareholder approval and regulatory clearances, and is expected to close in the fourth quarter.

Allistair Croll from O'Reilly Radar provides a clear and concise take on this deal ("What IBM's acquisition of Netezza means for enterprises", link below). Croll says that there's "a huge burst of interest in big data". The interpretation he offers is that enterprises are attracted to the kind of computation power offered by cloud platforms "but with much of the data they analyze considered proprietary or constrained by privacy legislation, companies want to keep it within their four walls and use appliances." Check out Croll's post for more.

Big business for big data - What IBM's acquisition of Netezza means for enterprises.
by Alistair Croll | 21 September 2010"
radar.oreilly.com/2010/09/big-business-for-big-data.html