Actuate and IBM team up for financial service sector

IBM servers and middleware will incorporate Actuate BI reporting and analytics

Business intelligence (BI) software specialist Actuate has announced a major technology and marketing alliance with infrastructure software giant IBM that will see Actuate's reporting and performance management tools integrated with IBM's software systems for financial services customers.

Under the deal, Actuate will join IBM's "ISV Advantage for Industries" programme and IBM will incorporate Actuate's reporting and analytics functionality into its offerings for financial service customers.

Specifically, the companies said Actuate's reporting applications will be optimised for IBM eServer pSeries and xSeries computing platforms running on Linux, AIX, or Windows, and IBM’s full suite of middleware offerings, including WebSphere, Information Management, Rational, Lotus, and Tivoli.

The two companies have also agreed to develop joint service-oriented architecture (SOA)-enabled products that will allow financial services firms to integrate application components.

Ilene Vogt, senior vice-president of global field operations at Actuate said in a statement that the integration of IBM's middleware and Actuate's reporting functionality would provide financial services firms with better insight into their customers, while helping to reduce costs and increase customer satisfaction.