IBM's data management software spending spree is set to continue after the company announced has announced that it is to acquire data discovery and archiving specialist Princeton Softech for an undisclosed sum.

The deal, which is expected to close before the end of the year, represents IBM's 22nd acquisition in the data management field since it announced its Information on Demand strategy.

IBM said that Princeton Softech's software for archiving data and creating test environments where sensitive data is masked and protected would be integrated into its information management software division and would enhance its data governance and compliance functionality.

Ambuj Goyal, general manager for IBM information management, said in a statement that the integration of Princeton Softech's archiving capabilities with IBM's existing data management technology would help firms cope with increasing data volumes and changing compliance requirements, providing them " with a single solution to more effectively manage risk and keep up with the variety of regulatory and enterprise data governance requirements".

David Stark, regional vice president for Northern Europe at Princeton Softech, agreed that the combination of the two vendors' software would help ease firms' compliance projects and also limit related costs. "IBM has said that for most clients 50 percent of their operational budget goes on storage management and our software can help reduce that cost," he said.

He added that there was no overlap between the two companies' portfolios and predicted that technical integration would prove relatively simple on the grounds that the two firms' have proven track record of working together as partners from "a project and technical point of view".

Mike Davis of analyst Ovum said that the acquisition filled a critical gap in IBM's information on demand strategy. "Princeton's software handles structured data very well," he said. "IBM got unstructured data management capabilities when it bought FileNET and now it has got high end structured data management. IBM could build this itself, but this gives it an established technology and half of the Fortune 500 as customers."

IBM has also asserted that the Princeton Softech technology, which is run by a large number of PeopleSoft and Microsoft, will remain entirely vendor agnostic, a move Davis said would reassure customers. "IBM has always said its data management software would be vendor agnostic, but this sends out the message clearer than ever that it will work with everyone as an agnostic data management layer," he added.