In an effort to keep their clients in the know, software developer 724 Solutions Inc. Wednesday bought privately-held notification technology firm Spyonit.com Inc. for $53.4 million in stock and cash.

724 Solutions will acquire all of the outstanding shares of Spyonit.com in exchange for $2 million in cash and 1,041,616 of common stock.

What the Chicago-based firm's software does, as the name suggests, is monitor the Net and other content sources for items of interest such as stock prices, product sales, or auction bids. When appropriate content is found, the system delivers notifications to the user through as cell phones and personal digital assistants.

Now 724 Solutions customers, wich includes CitiGroup, Wells Fargo and Bank of America may help their clients keep abreast of the latest goings-on while their away from their PCs.

724 Solutions spokesman Ray McManus told InternetNews.com Wednesday that 724, which serves only banks, competes with Aether Systems and E*TRADE in the space, but that they can lay claim to "little pieces of the wireless software services for financial institutions.

McManus also said the acquisition will enable clients to choose certain categories with a slew of options to be informed on.

"Spyonit.com allows us to broaden the range of alert services our Financial Services Platform supports, complements our LiveClips aggregation solution, and adds a compelling standalone offering to our product portfolio," said Greg Wolfond, chief executive officer, 724 Solutions.

Spyonit.com's technology and management team will provide the foundation 724 Solutions' "Tell Me When" offering -- a new tactic to present consumers with personalized alerts of events. Essentially, 724 Solutions' Financial Services Platform (FSP) will now support e-commerce alerts from merchant Web sites and account alerts from financial institution data.

In a recent survey, Forrester Research reported that over 60 percent of people who use Internet-enabled devices want notifications on discounts and promotions.

Headquartered in Toronto, 724 Solutions is in business primarily to service banks and other financial institutions.