Microsoft racked up the largest number of global acquisitions in 2006 with 14 takeovers.
Oracle and KPN were placed joint second, with 13 acquisitions apiece, and IBM came in fourth with 12 buyouts, according to consultant Icon Corporate Finance.
Among Microsoft"s acquisitions were Canadian asset-tracking company AssetMetrix and a reported US$75 million deal for remote-access and firewall company Whale Communications.
The largest global technology deal in 2006 was Alcatel"s acquisition of Lucent at US$11.5 billion.
Other large transactions in 2006 include Cisco splashing out US$5.3 billion for Scientific-Atlanta, HP buying Mercury Interactive for US$4.5 billion and Big Blue acquiring Filenet and ISS for a total of US$2.9 billion.