IBM announced Tuesday that it is buying electronic forms vendor PureEdge Solutions Inc. and plans to integrate e-forms technology into its Workplace and Lotus collaboration products.

IBM said the terms of the deal for the privately held firm based in Victoria, British Columbia, are not being disclosed.

PureEdge builds software that lets companies customize business applications for users and allows users to capture and display data in other applications.

"Forms and documents are an important part of running any business, and leveraging electronic forms can maximize business processes and contribute to productivity and growth," Ambuj Goyal, general manager of IBM"s Workplace, Portal, Lotus and collaboration software, said in a statement. "By adding PureEdge e-form technology to our collaboration and content management portfolio, IBM is providing an open-standards-based electronic forms framework that integrates people, processes and information and increases overall organizational productivity."

PureEdge e-forms use XML, which allows easy sharing of documents and transactions between different applications. PureEdge applications are built upon open standards.

"PureEdge has invested heavily in open-standards-based approaches for electronic forms," PureEdge CEO Mark Upson said in a statement. "We believe this integration with IBM"s Workplace family of collaborative products will not only accelerate our ability to deliver business value ... but will also ensure that open standards are widely adopted and developed in this critical market."

In the past, PureEdge has been an IBM business partner.