Big Blue Deepens Content Management Assets
IBM announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Venetica, a privately held company based in Charlotte, North Carolina.
The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth-quarter. Financial details were not disclosed.
Venetica's operations will be integrated into the Information Integration group within IBM's Information Management software business, and Venetica products will be available from IBM and its Business Partners.
Venetica is a leading provider of enterprise content integration software that enables organizations to access unstructured information such as business documents, still images, digital media and Web pages, and integrate it into existing business processes.
The software addresses the growing customer need to gain real-time access to business information that is scattered across the enterprise. As a result, organizations can reduce the cost and complexity of business-critical initiatives such as improving customer service, complying with regulations, and consolidating operations following a merger.
The acquisition further strengthens IBM's leadership in information integration, a key part of IBM's Business Integration efforts and the company's on demand computing initiatives. According to industry analysts, the opportunity for business integration software is expected to exceed $10 billion by 2006. IDC also estimates that companies are now spending as much as 40 percent of their annual IT budgets on integration.
With today's acquisition, IBM is further extending its information integration capabilities to help companies manage all forms of information across the enterprise. According to industry estimates, 85 percent of business information resides in unstructured formats. Forrester Research also estimates that more than 75 percent of customers are faced with the challenge of managing and integrating more than one source of content from multiple vendors. The firm also states that 25 percent of customers are managing information stored in more than 15 content repositories throughout their organizations.
With Venetica technology integrated into IBM's DB2 Information Integrator software, IBM will be uniquely positioned to deliver the most comprehensive information integration infrastructure in the industry. Additionally, in support of IBM's open standards infrastructure strategy, Venetica software can also work with both IBM and non-IBM data sources, including EMC/Documentum, FileNet, Hummingbird, Interwoven, Open Text and Stellent, enabling organizations to leverage their existing content assets.
"With the addition of Venetica technology and its expertise in unstructured data access, IBM is extending its leadership in helping customers build on their existing IT infrastructure and reduce the time and costs associated with integrating their diverse information assets." said Janet Perna, General Manager, IBM Data Management Software.
"While different technologies have evolved for handling structured and unstructured information, real world business problems often require a blend of both," said Stuart Levinson, President and CEO, Venetica. "IBM's leadership in understanding and addressing comprehensive information integration will enable customers to truly tap into their enterprise information assets for better strategic insight."
Once the acquisition is completed, IBM plans to:
* Integrate Venetica's software assets and personnel into the Information Integration group within IBM's Information Management Software group, which is led by General Manager, Janet Perna;
* Market and sell Venetica technology worldwide through IBM direct sales and its business partners;
* Venetica technology will be integrated into IBM's DB2 Information Integrator family of products and complement other IBM middleware offerings, including DB2 Content Manager, WebSphere Application Server, WebSphere Portal, WebSphere Business Integration and IBM's Workplace initiatives.
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