IBM just doesn’t spend $1.7 billion on a whim. Here’s it rationale for forking over $1.7 billion today for Netezza Corp., a data analytics firm:

The latest deal comes as International Business Machines Corp is shifting its focus from increasingly commoditized hardware to higher-margin software and services, particularly analytics, which help clients analyze market data to plot trends or prevent fraud. …

IBM said analytics, which accounted for about $9 billion of IBM’s $95.76 billion in revenue last year, was a significant growth opportunity for the company. IBM employs 6,000 analytics consultants, while Netezza has 500 employees.

IBM’s offer raised speculation that other data analytics companies such as Teradata Corp could be targeted next.

An IBM executive said it chose Netezza due in part to its ability to analyze online data quickly. The two companies also are partners, with Netezza using IBM hardware.

“Speed is critical,” said Arvind Krishna, general manager of information management at IBM. “Clients don’t have the patience to wait for weeks.”

Other Netezza customers include retailers as well as financial exchange operator NYSE Euronext.