IBM announced it plans to acquire Transitive, small Silicon Valley based firm that simplifies the transfer of applications from one type of hardware to another.
Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

When Apple switched from PowerPC to Intel chips in 2006, Transitive had its time to shine. The change in the hardware required software developers to rewrite their programs for Intel’s architecture, thus making it a likely possibility that Apple’s customers would be alienated in the event they were dependent on their Power PC-based computers. To prevent this from happening, Apple released a software called Rosetta - written by Transitive - which allowed older software to run on the new chips using a translation technology.

Following the Apple switch, Transitive signed deals with large server makers - mainly IBM, Hewlett-Packard, and Sun Microsystems. In each instance, Transitive aided in the shift of applications between hardware working on different processors and operating systems.