IBM has taken a significant step in enhancing its AI capabilities by acquiring Manta Software, a data lineage platform. This strategic move aims to complement IBM’s offerings within the watsonx.ai, watsonx.data, and watsonx.governance segments.
As businesses increasingly integrate artificial intelligence into their workflows, the complexity of data management has grown, making data quality and explainability vital to their strategies and systems.
IBM’s 2023 CEO study identified that the primary barrier to generative AI adoption is concerns about the lineage or provenance of data. To address this challenge, businesses are actively seeking solutions to gain a deeper understanding of the data that powers their intelligent systems.
Manta Software, founded in 2016 and headquartered in Prague, Czech Republic, is a key player in this arena. The company provides businesses with invaluable visibility into their data environments by delivering a comprehensive map of data flows, sources, transformations, and dependencies.
Manta’s data lineage capabilities empower organizations using watsonx to achieve transparency, enabling them to ascertain whether the right data was employed in their AI models and systems. It also allows them to trace data origins, understand how data has evolved, and detect any discrepancies in data flows. Furthermore, Manta provides an audit trail that aids businesses in discovering and anonymizing sensitive data, thereby reducing the risk of exposure and regulatory violations.
IBM and Manta have been collaborating in this space since June 2022, offering an integrated capability within IBM’s AI and data governance portfolio. Some of Manta’s prominent clients include leading brands such as T-Mobile, BMO, J.B. Hunt, and SCP Health.
The acquisition of Manta Software marks IBM’s eighth acquisition in 2023. Under the leadership of CEO Arvind Krishna, who took the helm in April 2020, IBM has made more than 30 strategic acquisitions, strengthening its position in the hybrid cloud and artificial intelligence (AI) sectors. While the financial details of this transaction have not been disclosed, it underlines IBM’s commitment to providing cutting-edge solutions to meet the evolving needs of businesses in the AI era.
