Following intensive consolidation in the enterprise applications sector, the market leaders have switched tack and are now cherry-picking smaller, little-known players.
To complement its push into retail software with its acquisition of Retek, Oracle swooped on Profitlogic, a privately-owned specialist in retail profit optimisation software. Already retailers such as Bloomingdale’s, Toys R Us and Nordstrom are using ProfitLogic to analyse customer behaviour when making decisions on inventory, pricing and merchandising.
This purchase follows Oracle’s June agreement to buy Timesten, a provider of ‘in-memory’ database software. The TimesTen/Cache provides lightning-fast SQL operations by loading Oracle data into a database held in memory for processing. The technology is used in high-performance applications such as real-time billing, stock trading, call centres and airline operations.
Also keen to boost real-time performance, SAP picked up Lighthammer Software Development, a collaborative manufacturing software specialist, in July. Lighthammer’s Illuminator analyses performance in the extended manufacturing chain, reporting on exceptions and performance variances, while its Xacute is a collaborative manufacturing platform that enables users to visually automate business processes.
Such deals, however, looked tiny compared to the consolidation underway in the call centre software market. Concerto Software announced that it was absorbing its larger rival, Aspect Communications, in a $1 billion transaction.
The acquisition is being bankrolled by Concerto’s owners, Golden Gate Capital and Oak Investment Partners. These private-equity firms have been mopping up both inbound and outbound call centre technology companies including CenterForce Technologies and Rockwell Firstpoint Contact. The merger creates a contact centre company with combined revenues of nearly $600 million.
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| Recent IT industry acquisitions |
| ACQUIRER |
ACTIVITY |
HQ |
TARGET |
ACTIVITY |
HQ |
PRICE |
| Aprimo |
Marketing mgmt s/w |
US |
DoubleClicks EMS unit |
Enterprise marketing mgmt s/w |
US |
n/a |
| CedarOpenAccounts |
Accounting s/w |
UK |
Grampian S/w’s HR/pay div |
HR &payroll applications s/w |
UK |
n/a |
| Cisco Systems |
Networking products |
US |
NetSift |
Content-filtering security s/w |
US |
n/a |
| Cisco Systems |
Networking products |
US |
FineGround Networks |
Web application acceleration s/w |
US |
$70m |
| Citrix Systems |
Server applns access s/w |
US |
NetScaler |
Appln networking s/w |
US |
$323m |
| Computer Associates Intl |
Systems mgmt s/w |
US |
Tiny Software |
Firewall s/w |
US |
n/a |
| Computer Associates Intl |
Systems mgmt s/w |
US |
Niku |
IT mgmt s/w |
US |
$350m |
| Concerto Software |
Contact centre s/w &services |
US |
Aspect Communications |
Contact centre s/w |
US |
$1bn |
| Hummingbird |
Content management s/w |
Canada |
RedDot |
Content management s/w |
Germany |
$47.5m |
| IBM |
Systems &IT services |
US |
Meiosys |
Applns virtualisation s/w |
France |
n/a |
| IBM |
Systems &IT services |
US |
PureEdge Solutions |
E-forms software |
Canada |
n/a |
| IBM |
Systems, s/w &IT services |
US |
Isogon |
IT asset mgmt s/w |
US |
n/a |
| Kewill Systems |
Supply chain s/w |
UK |
Perwill |
Collaboration commerce s/w |
UK |
£2m |
| Lawson Software |
Business applications s/w |
US |
Intentia International |
Business application s/w |
Sweden |
$480m |
| Microsoft |
Systems &applns s/w |
US |
FrontBridge Technologies |
Managed email services |
US |
n/a |
| Misys |
Financial s/w |
UK |
Almonde |
Risk management s/w |
France |
E15m |
| Network Appliance |
Networking products |
US |
Decru |
Storage security s/w |
US |
$272m |
| Oracle |
Database &applns s/w |
US |
ProfitLogic |
Retail analysis s/w |
US |
n/a |
| Oracle |
Database &applns s/w |
US |
TimesTen |
In-memory database s/w |
US |
n/a |
| Parametric Technology |
Engineering s/w |
US |
Arbortext |
Enterprise publishing s/w |
US |
$190m |
| Quest Software |
Database management s/w |
US |
Vintela |
Director mgmt s/w |
US |
$56.5m |
| RightNow Technologies |
Hosted CRM s/w |
US |
Convergent Voice |
Voice recognition s/w |
US |
n/a |
| Sage Group |
Business applications s/w |
UK |
Logic Control |
Business management s/w |
Spain |
£55m |
| SAP |
Business applications s/w |
Germany |
Lighthammer Software Dev |
Manufacturing planning s/w |
US |
n/a |
| Sopra Group |
IT services |
France |
Newell &Budge |
IT services |
UK |
n/a |
| Stellent |
Content management s/w |
US |
eOnehundred |
Fin compliance s/w &services |
US |
n/a |
| Sun Microsystems |
Systems, s/w &svcs |
US |
StorageTek |
Storage systems |
US |
$4.1bn |
| Sun Microsystems |
Systems, s/w &svcs |
US |
SeeBeyond Technology |
Integration s/w |
US |
$387m |
| VeriSign |
Internet security s/w |
US |
iDefense |
Vulnerability research services |
US |
$40m |
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