IBM has completed the acquisition of Sterling Commerce, AT&T`s B2B e-commerce software division.

IBM's products and services, combined with the B2B capabilities of Sterling Commerce are meant to enable the integration of key business processes through the entire cross-channel solution lifecycle, from marketing and selling to order management and fulfilment. These offerings will give clients the ability to manage their networks of business partners through public or private cloud computing environments.

Sterling Commerce technology will complement IBM's software offerings, enabling the addition of capabilities to IBM's frameworks supporting the retail, manufacturing, communications, health care and banking industries.

So far, over 18,000 global customers have selected Sterling Commerce's services. The company enables more than 1 billion business interactions a year for clients in the financial services, retail, manufacturing, communications and distribution industries.