HCL Technologies has agreed to purchase some of IBM's software assets for $1.8 billion, making it one of the biggest acquisitions by an Indian IT firm.

India's third-largest information technology company will be acquiring seven of IBM's businesses that are focused on markets, such as e-commerce and human resources, as per a statement by IBM on Thursday. The 'Big Blue' wants to focus on cloud computing.

The products are Unica for marketing automation, Appscan for secure application development, BigFix for secure device management, Commerce for omnichannel eCommerce, Portal for digital experience, Connections for workstream collaboration, and Notes & Domino for email and low-code rapid application development.

"The time is right to divest these select collaboration, marketing and commerce software assets, which are increasingly delivered as stand-alone products," said John Kelly, a senior vice president at IBM Corp.

The transaction is expected to be completed by mid-2019 and their existing licensed partnership for five products will continue.

The US-based International Business Machines Corp is trying to become a leader in the hybrid cloud computing business.