New Delhi: IBM has made another strategic acquisition to strengthen its AI as well as data governance capabilities. On Tuesday, the technology giant announced the acquisition of Manta Software. It is to enhance IBM’s offerings within the fields of watsonx governance, watsonx.data, and watsonx.ai enabling businesses to develop trustworthy and transparent products.
As AI becomes increasingly integrated into business operations and data complexity grows, it has become important for organizations to ensure data quality. In fact, according to IBM’s CEO study (2023), the biggest obstacle to the adoption of generative AI revolves around the lineage of data. Consequently, businesses are actively looking for different ways to gain deeper insights into the data to boost intelligent systems.
In 2016, Manta Software was founded in Prague. It provides businesses with detailed visibility into data offering a complete view of data sources, dependencies, and transformations. This data lineage capability enables transparency within IBM’s Watsonx platform.
It empowers businesses to ascertain whether the correct data was utilized for AI models, understand its origins, track its evolution, and identify any disparities in the flow of data. By offering an audit trail, also allows for the discovery and anonymization of sensitive data, reducing the risk of regulatory violations and data exposure.
The collaboration between Manta and IBM has been ongoing since June’22. Notably, Manta has some of the prominent brands as its clients including J.B. Hunt, BMO, T-Mobile, and SCP Health.
This acquisition represents IBM’s eighth transaction in 2023. Under the leadership of CEO Arvind Krishna IBM has successfully acquired over 30 companies, fortifying its position in hybrid cloud services and AI. While the financial information regarding the Manta acquisition is not publicly disclosed, it underscores IBM’s commitment to driving innovation and coming out as a leader in the data governance and AI space.