UNICOM® Global acquires IBM Cognos® Application Development Tools/IBM Cognos PowerHouse® 4GL Suite from IBM® Corp.

UNICOM and IBM will ensure smooth transition for customers

MISSION HILLS, CA – December 31, 2013 – UNICOM Systems, Inc., a Division of UNICOM Global, today announced that it has acquired the Cognos® Application Development Tools suite from International Business Machines Corp. (IBM).  The acquisition includes the Cognos PowerHouse 4GL Server, Cognos Axiant® 4GL and Cognos PowerHouse Web® solutions which deliver cross-platform rapid functional application development solutions to customers throughout the world.  Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

UNICOM Global’s Founder, President and CEO, Mr. Corry Hong, said he is pleased to build on UNICOM Global‘s 32 year business partner relationship with IBM, one of the world’s leading IT companies.

“This is a strategic acquisition for UNICOM Global.  We appreciate IBM’s trust in selling us the Cognos Application Development Tools suite and in IBM’s confidence in our ability to effectuate such a complex global transaction,” said Mr. Hong.  “We will collaborate with IBM to ensure smooth transition for customers.  Application Development Tools play a key role in enterprise technology and PowerHouse is the most widely installed 4GL in the industry with customers continuing to achieve substantial economies in reducing application development efforts.” 

As part of the Transaction, UNICOM has executed a Transition Services Agreement with IBM whereby certain transition services will be provided by IBM to and on behalf of UNICOM to allow for a smooth and seamless transition for all of the PowerHouse customers worldwide. 

IBM’s PowerHouse applications are in wide use across all industries and geographies, with special concentration in the healthcare, the U.S. Federal and State, Local and Education (SLED) markets.  PowerHouse provides rapid development of custom application solutions, including robust capabilities for Windows and Web-based interfaces.  PowerHouse is a byte-compiled 4GL development environment that consists of a screen-generator, a screen designer, a report writer, a batch processor and a central data-dictionary supporting Microsoft's SQL Server, HP's Allbase/SQL, Oracle, Sybase, and IBM's DB2® database software. 

The acquisition of the Cognos Application Development Tools suite expands and builds on UNICOM’s strategic IT capabilities and offerings which will benefit UNICOM customers, technology partners and supply-chain partners. UNICOM continues to grow through leadership, capital, and its global presence thereby strengthening existing relationships with Fortune 500 and Global 2000 commercial customers, as well as with OEM, Support Providing Partners, other strategic partners, the U.S. Federal Government, State, Local and Municipal government entities, and with key healthcare providers.