VeriSign Inc., which provides security, payment, and other services for networks within global supply chains, reported Wednesday it has acquired R4 Global Solutions for $15 million in cash. R4 is a consulting-services vendor that assists companies using radio-frequency identification, electronic product codes, and other data-related supply-chain technologies.

The VeriSign acquisition follows other supply-chain-related consolidations in recent weeks. On Monday, the Uniform Code Council Inc. revealed the merger of its data pool UCCnet, used by retail companies and their suppliers to share product information, and Transora, an organization with a similar business model. The new organization, not yet named, will be led by Transora CEO Robert Noe. The deal is expected to close in approximately 30 days.

Last month, retail supply-chain exchanges GlobalNetXchange LLC and the WorldWide Retail Exchange LLC unveiled plans to merge.

The recent mergers should help strengthen the partnership of data synchronization and RFID as methods to access and share supply-chain data, primarily in the retail and consumer-goods industries.

"The trend toward collaboration has been going on for five years, and we're beginning to see the crossover of RFID and data synchronization," says Jeff Richards, R4's former president and CEO, who takes on the title of director of directory services at VeriSign.

R4 brought customers with it to the merger, including Levi Strauss, McKesson, and Land O'Lakes. The acquisition closed Thursday. VeriSign will retain R4 Global's 26 full-time employees.