IBM has plans to expand its portfolio of WebSphere integration middleware with data synchronization software from Trigo Technologies.

Big Blue last week announced plans to buy its partner of nearly three years, Trigo, for an undisclosed amount in a stock transaction slated to close next quarter. Privately held Trigo's expertise is in streamlining collaboration among supply-chain partners. Its Product Center software links product-related information such as style, size and color, with transaction terms such as pricing, and then publishes this information to internal enterprise applications and external business-partner systems.

The majority of Trigo's success has been with retail and consumer packaged goods companies, which struggle to keep track of hundreds of attributes, for thousands of products, across dozens of applications. Trigo user Albertsons, in Boise, Idaho, depends on Product Center to manage 1 million items, from about 5,000 suppliers, for its 2,300 grocery and drug stores, said Tom Reilly, CEO of Trigo, in a conference call detailing the IBM buyout.

The pending acquisition highlights the growing importance of data integrity in business-to-business transactions. Administrative and paperwork errors are responsible for 13% of the $46 billion retailers could lose annually to inventory inefficiencies and theft, according to research from Ernst & Young.

The Trigo purchase will help round out IBM's own data integration offerings and provide ammunition in its ongoing effort to assemble industry-specific middleware offerings.