In the latest of a long line of data and storage-related buys, <A HREF="http://www.cio.com/article/337763/IBM_Buys_Storage_Vendor_Diligent_Technologies">IBM said Friday it has acquired Diligent Technologies</A> for an undisclosed sum.

Diligent, which has offices in Framingham, Massachusetts, and Tel Aviv, is known for its de-duplication technology, a technique for saving storage space by eliminating redundant data, such as multiple copies of the same email attachment within an email archive. The company's ProtecTIER product employs an in-line de-duplication engine that does the work as data is brought into a system, not after the fact, which saves time, according to Diligent's Web site.