It has been revealed that IBM, International Business Machines, will be buying Unica, a software company, for approximately $480 million. It is speculated that this acquisition will allow IBM to obtain technology that will allow customers to construct their own marketing campaigns.

Earlier this year, IBM’s CEO, Sam Palmisano, said that IBM has a set budget of $20 billion for acquisitions for the next five years. IBM’s software unit has made approximately 60 acquisitions in the last seven years and is expected to be responsisble for 50% of company’s earnings by the year 2015.

Unica has an impressive customer base which includes Ebay and Best Buy among others. Unica employs 500 people.

I am curious to see how IBM handles this acquisitions and takes advantage of it.