When the acquisition closes in the first quarter, Rational will be the fifth division within IBM software, along with Websphere, DB2 database, Tivoli management products and Lotus collaborative software.

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It doesn't sound a very hi-tech business, but Emmanuel told me that Cambridge software expertise and the collaborative culture were among the many good reasons to base his firm here.

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Drupal integrates many popular features of content management systems, weblogs, collaborative tools and discussion-based community software into one easy-to-use package.

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Much of the software infrastructure for IBM mainframes was developed in a collaborative model.

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Autodesk is also in the process of working out collaborative deals with other companies, such as Ponoko, so that the software can be used to create personalized products that can then be shipped.

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Newer Cloud-based systems provide not just a better way for companies to buy and use sophisticated supply chain software quickly and economically, but they provide the only way companies can begin to orchestrate as collaborative networks.

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