IBM Corp., Armonk, N.Y., has reached a definitive agreement to acquire Worklight, a privately held Israeli company that sells software for tablet computers and smartphones.

Financial terms of the deal, which IBM expects will bolster its mobile applications development and strategy, weren't disclosed in an IBM news release. Worklight serves several industries including healthcare and can help hospitals expand their information technology infrastructure to allow patients to input their health histories using a tablet computer.

IBM's software group will absorb Worklight, and the deal is expected to close later this quarter.