IBM said Wednesday that it has acquired Aptsoft, a privately-held maker of software that helps companies spot emerging business trends.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

IBM claims AptSoft's software can analyze tens of thousands of disparate events per second on a network to spot a trend. For instance, it can be used by retailers to provide a real-time analysis of sales trends and alert them to situations where goods may need to be restocked. It also could be used by stock traders to identify sudden changes in stock market behavior that might present buying or selling opportunities.

"AptSoft enables customers to capture events as they happen," said Tom Rosamilia, a general manager in IBM's software group, in a statement.

AptSoft counts Georgia Pacific among its customers. The lumber giant is using AptSoft's technology to manage and coordinate events across its supply chain. The company's other customers include auto insurers and financial services firms.

IBM's acquisitions team is off to a busy start this year. In addition to AptSoft, the company since the beginning of the new year has announced the buyouts of XIV Ltd., an Israeli maker of storage area networking technology, and Net Integration Technologies, a Canadian developer of small business-in-a-box software.

IBM announced nine acquisitions in 2007, including a $5 billion deal to buy out business intelligence software vendor Cognos.