IBM pays $1.7 billion for Netezza. Business Ideas, IBM Corp. agreed to pay $1.7 billion for Netezza Corp, a Marlborough firm that makes systems for analyzing great amounts of corporate data. Investors predicted that IBM’s offer could start a bidding war with a rival computer giant, similar to the recent duel betweenHewlett-Packard Co. and Dell Inc. for control of data storage company 3Par Inc. In August, Dell agreed to buy 3Par for $1.15 billion, or $18 a share, only to have its prize snatched away by HP, which offered $33 per share, or $2.4 billion.

The deal is the second-largest acquisition of a Massachusetts technology company this year, and the fourth by IBM. The Netezza deal highlights the growing significance of business analytics systems. Large companies collect large databases of customer information from millions of transactions. They use business analytics to search these data for hidden that can help increase sales and support operations.  “The reason you see Netezza being acquired is the amount of data companies are collecting is just exploding,’’ said Bill Hewitt, the chief executive of Kalido Inc. of Burlington.

IBM has purchased 18 of the state’s tech companies since 2003. News of the deal pushed the shares of Netezza to close at $28.27 on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, well above IBM’s purchase price of $27 a share.