<div><p>TEL AVIV (Reuters) - IBM <IBM.N>, the world's biggest technology services company, is expected to announce this week the acquisition of database security start-up Guardium for $225 million, Israeli financial newspaper TheMarker reported.</p><p>The deal is due to close on Monday and will then be announced to the public, TheMarker said on Sunday.</p><p>Guardium started as an Israeli firm in 2002 but moved to Boston in 2003. It has about 60 employees and all will profit from the sale, TheMarker cited a source close to the company as saying.</p><p>The company had raised $21 million from venture capital funds such as Ascent Venture Partners, Israel's StageOne Ventures and Veritas, and Cisco Systems <CSCO.O>, the paper said.</p><p>Guardium is a subsidiary of Israel's Log-On Software. Officials at Log-On declined to comment on the report.</p><p>Guardium's product enables companies to extend the use of corporate applications to customers, partners and providers while ensuring that the databases used by those applications are shielded.</p><p>(Reporting by Tova Cohen; Editing by Clarence Fernandez)</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=64416124&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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