An industrial conglomerate that gives its many operating units management autonomy, Illinois Tool would seem to fit the Buffett management model.

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Regulus: Advanced Vehicle Operating System for intelligent autonomy to enable coordinated fleet operations.

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Software revenue grew 18% year over year with an 18.0% operating margin, including the results of Autonomy.

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The most established technology related to tracking social media comes from Autonomy's Intelligent Data Operating Layer (IDOL) platform, which has been scanning the Internet using techniques based on patterns and probability for more than a decade.

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Buying Autonomy also helps HP to move onto higher-margin terrain: the British firm's operating margins exceed 40%.

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