IBM Noshes Netezza

IBM’s 2010 acquisition spree continues without pause. This morning Big Blue said it’s agreed to buy data warehousing and analytics company Netezza for $1.7 billion in cash. The deal, which values Netezza at $27 a share–9.8 percent premium to its closing price on Friday–comes just five days after IBM purchased OpenPages for an undisclosed sum.

IBM (IBM) and Netezza (NZ) have worked together for years–Netezza says its entire product platform is based on IBM hardware. No surprise, then, that IBM would target it as it bolsters its presence in analytics, a market it believes will be one of its main sources of growth in the future. In the last four years alone, IBM has made 23 analytics-related acquisitions totaling $12 billion.