IBM has announced its plans to buy Israeli-based Worklight in order to enhance its mobile-service offerings. Worklight is an Israeli-based provider of mobile software for smartphones and tablets.
With this acquisition, IBM's mobile offerings will span mobile application development, integration, security and management.
"Worklight will become an important piece of IBM's mobility strategy, offering clients an open platform that helps speed the delivery of existing and new mobile applications to multiple devices. It also helps enable secure connections between smartphone and tablet applications with enterprise IT systems," IBM said.
Worklight supports consumer and employee-facing applications in a broad range of industries, including financial services, retail and healthcare. For example, a bank can create a single application that offers features to enable its customers to securely connect to their account, pay bills and manage their investments, regardless of the device they are using. Similarly, a hospital could use Worklight technology to extend its existing IT system to allow direct input of health history, allergies, and prescriptions by a patient using a tablet.
IBM's development and integration tools, complemented by Worklight, can help clients to develop mobile applications and their supporting infrastructures for a variety of platforms just once-including Apple iOS and Google Android-while offering capabilities to securely connect to corporate IT systems.
Shahar Kaminitz, CEO and founder, Worklight, added, "Building on our existing partnership with IBM, the acquisition of Worklight further enhances IBM's broad mobile portfolio. Now it will be easier than ever for our clients to offer secure and connected applications to their customers, business partners and employees."
In addition to Worklight, IBM is also unveiling IBM Endpoint Manager for Mobile Devices, a new software system that will enable corporate users to manage and secure their mobile devices these applications are running on.
The acquisition of Worklight is expected to close in 1Q12. Worklight will sit within IBM's Software Group. However, the financial terms were not disclosed.