IBM has completed the acquisition of Vivisimo, a provider of federated discovery and navigation software that helps organizations access and analyze big data.

Vivisimo software automates the discovery of big data, regardless of its format or where it resides, providing decision makers with a federated view of key business information necessary to drive new initiatives.

The combination of IBM and Vivisimo software accelerates IBM's big data initiatives to help clients analyze the volume, variety, and velocity of big data for strategic advantage.

IDC estimates the market for big data technology and services will grow at an annual rate of nearly 40 percent to reach $16.9 billion by 2015.

"Game-changing insights are locked inside big data and clients want an easier way to unlock their full potential," said Arvind Krishna, general manager, Information Management, IBM Software Group. "This acquisition of Vivisimo will help clients uncover new data and combine it with existing information assets for analysis that leads to smarter business decisions. No other vendor provides this depth and breadth of information management and analytics for big data."

Visimimo will be integrated into IBM's big data platform which can analyze any data in motion or at rest. The platform enables clients to develop a new class of applications that perform advanced analytics on data in their native form, optimize workloads, and apply security and governance to big data.

Vivisimo brings over a decade of experience and innovation in data navigation technologies for big data. The technology is distinguished by its unique index and search capabilities that uncover data from multiple repositories, making it valuable to clients in any industry.

Vivisimo has more than 140 clients in industries such as government, life sciences, manufacturing, electronics, consumer goods and financial services. Clients include Airbus, U.S. Air Force, Social Security Administration, Defense Intelligence Agency, U.S. Navy, Procter & Gamble, Bupa, and LexisNexis among others.

With the closing, approximately 120 Vivisimo employees will join IBM's Software Group. IBM will incorporate Vivisimo technology into its big data platform and sell Vivisimo products individually.

Financial terms were not disclosed.