IBM announced Monday that it will buy Blade Network Technologies, a California-based company with offices in Ottawa.
Blade specializes in software and other devices that route data and transactions to and from servers. The company, which has research offices on Terry Fox Drive in Ottawa, is a spinoff of Nortel.
Nortel recently disclosed that it still had a 14 per cent stake in the company.
The acquisition is expected to close in the last quarter of 2010. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. However, reports indicate the sale could be worth an estimated $400 million.
The deal marks the sixth Ottawa-area company scooped up by IBM.
The vice president of engineering for Blade in Ottawa told CTV the acquisition is considered an important deal for the company.
Atule Tambe said the sale recognizes Blade's success and the work of its Ottawa employees.
He added he does not expect any job losses. Rather, he said the company has been hiring, and more growth is expected.
Ottawa's economic development agency also thinks the sale is positive, noting all IBM's previous acquisitions in the capital have translated into expansion and growth.
IBM and Blade have had a working relationship since 2002, and have many joint clients, according to a news release about the deal.
Thirty-five employees work at Blade's research and development office in Ottawa. The company has 270 full-time employees in Canada, the United States and China.
IBM is Ottawa's largest private sector employer. The company has acquired many Ottawa firms over the years, including Cognos, Rational Software, Tarian Software, Object Technology International and Watchfire.
With files from CTV Ottawa's Paul Brent
