Modem Media (MMPT), which began as a marketing firm, has been expanding its business services recently. Monday's acquisition of privately-held vivid is expected to close in January. Vivid will be integrated into Modem Media's operations.

Vivid focuses on creating e-commerce sites for start-up businesses as well as established companies. Its Internet-related services include strategic planning, engineering, systems architecture, design and project management.

G.M. O'Connell, Modem Media's chairman and chief executive officer, said the acquisition will strengthen the company's e-commerce offerings.

"Modem's acquisition of vivid is in line with our customer-focused e-business strategy and enables us to implement complex e-commerce sites quickly and market them more effectively," O'Connell said.

"Vivid's engineering prowess and proven information architecture and design methodologies augment our ability to provide exceptional strategic guidance and complete end-to-end services for our clients."

Modem Media has been adding to its services in the past few months. In October, the company purchased MEX Multimedia Experts GmbH, a German developer of interactive business tools, for approximately $5.4 million in cash and stock. The company also opened a strategic consulting division in November designed to improve customer relations.