IBM is once again bolstering its data and AI division with a strategic acquisition, this time it’s the Israeli-based data observability startup Databand. The IT services giant has acquired Databand, a startup that specializes in developing an observability platform software solutions for data and machine learning pipelines. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed to the public, but the Israeli startup had announced that it has raised $14.5 million prior to the tech deal.

The latest deal, according to IBM, will help it to carve out a piece of the fast-growing data observability market, which was estimated to be around $5 billion in 2020, according to the latest study from research firm IDC. It will also help IBM compete better with the likes of AWS, Microsoft, and Oracle, which also offer full-stack observability tools and services.

With Databand under its enterprise IT roof, IBM gets to add another piece of a layer to its existing data observability tools, which include IBM Watson Studio and IBM Obervability by Instana. Big Blue plans to add Databand’s data observability technology platform to its existing data observability tools to offer its customers a full spectrum of observability tools across IT operations.

Data observability platform is used by companies and businesses to better monitor enterprise applications, such as data flow and distributed infrastructure, and to figure out whether data products are working properly. It helps data engineers trace the origin of the data problem in case of a system failure.

In a newly-released statement by IBM, Daniel Hernandez, IBM general manager for data and AI said that folding Databand into IBM’s broader portfolio would help the latter’s customers better identify and fix data issues including errors, pipeline failures, and poor quality. The plan is to expand Databand’s observability capabilities for integrations across open source and commercial tools while allowing customers to have “full flexibility” in running Databand either as a service or a self-hosted subscription.

“Our clients are data-driven enterprises who rely on high-quality, trustworthy data to power their mission-critical processes. When they don’t have access to the data they need at any given moment, their business can grind to a halt,” Hernandez said in a released statement.

Founded in 2018 and based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Databand.ai is a product-driven technology company that provides a proactive data observability platform. Databand’s technology empowers data engineering and IT teams to deliver reliable and trustworthy data. The company’s main goal is to help enterprise companies catch bad data at the source, and help them fix these data issues before it impacts their bottom line.

This Israeli-based startup was funded and backed by Accel Partners, Blumberg Capital, Ubiquity Ventures, Differential Ventures, Bessemer Venture Partners, and F2.

As part of the deal, Databand employees will join IBM’s data and AI division. The deal is expected to close on July 27.