IBM acquires Sterling Commerce from AT&T

IBM is to acquire Sterling Commerce from AT&T for approximately US$1.4 billion in cash. The acquisition of the Dublin, OH-based company will expand IBM's ability to help organizations create more intelligent and dynamic business networks by simplifying and automating the way they connect and communicate with customers, partners and suppliers both on-premise or through cloud computing delivery models. Sterling Commerce is well known in the banking industry for its payment automation solutions. Typically, a bank will work with Sterling to build payment hubs that can handle ACH payments, checks, wire transfers, EDI and other payment types - with audit trails and data analysis built in. This has been an area of investment of most treasury management departments. Sterling's bank clients include Ameriprise Financial, BNP Paribas, Russell Investment Group and Bank of China.