By Melanie Turek, Nemertes Research Inc.

May 10, 2005

IBM’s (NYSE: IBM) recent acquisition of Ascential Software (NASDAQ NM: ASCL), a leading provider of data-integration tools, highlights Nemertes’ identification of the critical role information stewardship plays in the enterprise. Information stewardship includes information protection (encryption, identity management, anti-malware, etc.); logging & auditing (records retention, compliance); data-quality management (data validation); and information-lifecycle management/BCPDR. Never has it been more critical to businesses worldwide, as government regulations, increased customer awareness, and the need for business agility increase pressure on companies to secure, manage and use their data wisely.

Among its uses, Ascential’s products help companies build data warehouses, deliver data to business intelligence systems, and consolidate the information stored in enterprise applications. Ascential Software is now part of IBM’s Information Management division, as part of the Information Integration Solutions unit. Integrating data across an organization is a key part of IBM’s growing information-stewardship focus.

The complete Impact Analysis is available to Nemertes clients. For more information, please contact Christine Zimmerman at christine@nemertes.com [1]