IBM Buys Developer Tool Maker BuildForge

The companies announced the deal Tuesday. Plans call for IBM, which expects to absorb most of BuildForge's 40 employees, to add the BuildForge technology to its Rational line of application development software.

Founded in 2001, Austin, Texas-based BuildForge has been a close ally of IBM, which uses BuildForge's software internally to coordinate development work among geographically dispersed teams.

Of BuildForge's 58 customers, 80 percent also are Rational customers, said Roger Oberg, vice president of Rational marketing and strategy at IBM.

"We started using the product a couple of years ago ourselves because we didn't have anything like it," Oberg said. "This will be our build management and automation capability going forward."

BuildForge's FullControl, FullThrottle and Prism products for software build and release control will be made available to IBM's VAR channel, though Oberg said it likely will take until early next year to work out the logistics.

IBM plans to continue selling the software as stand-alone products. BuildForge's products already have integration links for IBM's Rational Application Developer, Rational ClearCase and ClearQuest software.