IBM has invested in a third company specialising in geographic information systems and has increased its holding in SVG Lithography Systems Inc. The new geographic partner is Intera Information Technologies Corp of Calgary, Alberta: with IBM, it has formed Intera Tydac Technologies Inc to buy the assets of Tydac Technologies Inc of Ottawa, which includes the SPANS Spatial Analysis System and Tydac’s marketing, sales and support operations in Arlington, Virginia and here in London. Financial details were not disclosed. Intera Tydac has some 60 employees and is doing $60m a year. IBM already has stakes in geographic firms UGC Consulting Inc and Geographic Systems Corp. And IBM has invested another $2.7m in Silicon Valley Group Inc’s SVG Lithography Systems Inc representing a 6% stake in the company, which was formed last May to buy the Optical Lithography Operations of Perkin-Elmer Corp. The proceeds were used to repay a promissory note from SVG Lithogra phy to Perkin-Elmer as part of the price paid to acquire the assets.
