The Big Blue has bought Diligent Technologies, a privately held storage "de-duplication" technology company headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts. The research and development facilities of Diligent are located in Tel Aviv, Israel.

IBM announced that the technologies and employees of the company will be integrated in the IBM System Storage business unit of the IBM Systems and Technology Group.

Diligent Technologies is developing in-line data de-duplication software which is integrated with server and storage infrastructures.

This tool helps organizations reduce the amount and cost of physical storage required in data centers. Diligent's technology offers a single solution to support data protection, archive and data-retention applications - all while maintaining the integrity of the data.

IBM said that the acquisition of Diligent maps to the overall IBM enterprise strategy of developing more efficient, cost effective data centers. The new model is based on best practices for virtualization, green IT, service management and cloud computing.

"Diligent's data de-duplication software is a critical technology that will be integrated into the IBM Storage portfolio to further extend our information infrastructure strategy, allowing our clients to eliminate redundant data and streamline the infrastructure required to support their business -- which can result in dramatic improvements in data center efficiency," said Andy Monshaw, general manager, IBM System Storage.

In January IBM acquired Israeli-based XIV to address emerging storage opportunities such as Web 2.0 applications, digital archives and digital media. Earlier this month, the company announced its intent to acquire FilesX, a provider of continuous data protection software for mission-critical applications and remote offices.