Antenna Software Acquires Dexterra to Lead Mobile Line of Business Middleware Market

| Jun 16, 2009 | Enterprise Mobility - U.S. | Competitive Intelligence Report

| Analyst: Kitty Weldon

Current Perspective: Positive
Vendor Importance: Very High
Market Impact: High

Event Summary

June 15, 2009 - Antenna Software acquires Dexterra, both leaders in mobile middleware. The combined company will embrace diverse systems and devices, offer flexibility for mobile application development and allow organizations to scale mobility initiatives. Customers and partners will benefit from more powerful technology and a broader portfolio of industry solutions. Dexterra has operations throughout the Americas, Europe and Asia Pacific, a network of global partners including Accenture, ErgoGroup, Mincom and IBM and over 100 global enterprise customers.

Analytical Summary

• Current Perspective: Positive on Antenna Software’s acquisition of Dexterra, as vendor consolidation in what has been a fragmented market for mobile middleware will not only benefit the combined company, but should spur on growth in the overall market for mobile line of business (LOB) applications. Antenna will become a stronger, more diverse solutions provider, with more global channels, a broader array of products and services with which to target a wider variety of customer segments, and with the ability to leverage both companies’ unique yet complementary go-to-market and platform strengths.

• Vendor Importance: High to Antenna, which has been leading this market, with Dexterra as its chief rival, as it will now have access to the technology, customers, geographical breadth and channel partners that Dexterra had amassed, which are substantial, in spite of the fact that Dexterra has had more difficulty thriving in the economic downturn. With more market clout, economies of scale of various kinds can be realized, as the combined company can now offer direct, indirect (including carrier white label), hosted or premises-based solutions, and mobilize more key LOB processes including SFA, CRM, field service, IT services and workforce/asset management. It should also up the likelihood of Antenna becoming the primary go-to-partner for global carriers’ managed mobile application services.

• Market Impact: High on the mobile middleware segment of the enterprise mobility market, as Antenna and Dexterra were already leaders, but there remain pure-play companies such as Vaultus, iEnterprises, Corrigo and Pyxis who either are more narrowly focused in terms of the back-ends to which they can connect, their mobile device support, their core “horizontal” LOB application segment(s) or their primary vertical focus. These companies can still compete within their narrower domains but will find it harder to participate in large multi-application opportunities against a stronger Antenna. The acquisition will also help “defrag” the EM market which should boost customer confidence.

Recommended Competitor Actions

• Mobile middleware providers such as Corrigo, iEnterprises, Vaultus and Pyxis should note that they have a unique focus either on horizontal LOB applications or on key verticals that Antenna, as more of a generalist, can not necessarily match, depending on the customer requirements.

• Sybase should note that its OneBridge Mobile Data Suite accelerates mobile application development as it supports existing directories and authentication databases, leverages relay server architecture for secure deployment behind the firewall, and supports all popular device and server databases as well as all popular device platforms. Sybase also should note its extensive complementary device management and mobile security capabilities.

• SAP and Oracle should note that SAP-only or Oracle-only customers may be better off using products such as SAP Mobile Asset Management/SAP CRM or Oracle Mobile Sales Assistant. SAP should also note that it is working extensively with RIM to develop an easy to use out of the box mobile CRM application. However, both vendors should make sure that Antenna is treated as a valued partner in situations where customers need the breadth to connect to more than one back-end business application.

Recommended End User / Customer Actions

• Enterprise customers that have held off on mobile deployments due to the complexity of developing or supporting access to multiple back-ends and/or multiple mobile device types need to strongly explore Antenna’s solutions. Especially as a larger, stronger company, the new Antenna can provide significant benefits with which to enhance employee flexibility and productivity, with significant and quantifiable ROIs.

• Carriers that are planning to offer managed mobility services should consider Antenna an even stronger player than it had been before in the mobile middleware market and one that should be considered as a go-to provider of solutions to facilitate managed applications.

CLIENTS ONLY

Current Perspective

Competitive Positives and Concerns

Recommended Vendor Actions

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