The industry went Christmas shopping on Friday, just squeezing in that last acquisition just before the end of the year capping twelve months that have seen more acquisitions in the IT industry, especially from the networking and communications sectors, than ever before. IBM Corp subsidiary Tivoli Systems Inc, acquired Software Artistry Inc for $200m, adding help desk software to its portfolio. Texas Instruments Inc continued its quest to buy up the digital signal processing industry by buying GO DSP Corp, a Toronto, Canada-based firm specializing in DSP software tools, on undisclosed terms. Olivetti SpA persuaded Northern Telecom Ltd to buy out its shareholding in Sixtel, their Italian networking services joint venture, for around $17m. Systems integrator BTG Inc sold off its Federal Government division to Government Technology Services Inc. And wireless telecommunications company Geotek Communications Inc sold its European analog interests to Montreal-based Telesystem International Wireless Inc for $85m in cash.