On January 19th Progress Software agreed to acquire privately-held Actional Corporation for approximately $32 million, net of cash acquired, in cash and shares of Progress common stock. Actional is a leading provider of Web services management (WSM) software for visibility and run-time governance of distributed IT systems in a service-oriented architecture (SOA). Upon the closing of the transaction, Actional will become part of Sonic Software, and an operating unit of Progress Software.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Competitors in the ESB/SOA integration space should consider adding Web services/SOA management to their product stacks if they haven’t already. Users who are relying on the SOA style of integration will need to ensure the integrity of services in order to build composite applications. This will be part of infrastructure, not just management.

► Competitors that already have some SOA management/Web services management, including IBM and Oracle, will need to bring this functionality closer to their ESBs and/or integration products.

► Competitors should also consider registry and repository as part of SOA integration or at least closely linked to it.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► End users should consider Web services management or “SOA management” as a crucial component to building an SOA. There is no other way to ensure the integrity of SOA transactions and applications, since services will be running on widely disparate platforms.

► Users should look for SOA management that has some linkage to SOA integration since the two will be linked at design time and runtime.

► Users should consider the Actional/Sonic combination as a credible SOA integration/ESB platform.

Symantec Acquires Instant Messaging Leader IMlogic

On January 3rd Symantec Corp. announced that it had signed a definitive agreement to acquire IMlogic, Inc., a provider of enterprise software for instant messaging (IM). IMlogic’s technology provides a complete solution to control and secure public and enterprise IM networks while ensuring compliance with regulatory and corporate governance policies.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Microsoft needs to continue down its path of promoting, as the key differentiator of its security, the tight integration between its security products and the server applications they protect.

► Cisco needs to do a better job of promoting and outlining its IM strategy in light of regular threat alerts being issued by leading IM security vendors, including IMlogic and Akonix.

► AV and e-mail security competitors should consider a similar acquisition of IM pure plays, including Akonix and FaceTime.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Customers of Symantec’s secure messaging solutions should feel assured that their investments are sound and the company continues to enhance its solutions through acquisitions of technology leaders.

► Symantec e-mail security customers and current IMlogic customers should look for promotions and bundling deals resulting from the acquisition, and they can expect the first fruits of the merger to come in the form of an e-mail security appliance, with later IM integration expected within Symantec’s Enterprise Vault product and e-mail security software.

► Enterprise users should look to Symantec to outline details and timeframes for additional real-time collaboration support such as VoIP.

SPSS Unveils the Next Version of Clementine

On January 16th SPSS Inc. unveiled its new data mining workbench, Clementine 10, which will provide a substantial boost for customer relations management (CRM), marketing, fraud detection, and revenue assurance applications.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Data mining vendors should highlight their own abilities to work with a variety of databases, especially IBM and Oracle.

► Database vendors should highlight their own embedded data mining capabilities.

► Teradata, a division of NCR, should not only highlight its own data mining capabilities, but also its integral membership in CRISP-DM.

► Data mining vendors, in general, should consider supporting CRISP-DM, as well as highlighting any other industry standards that they support.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► Clementine users should be pleased with this release, because SPSS has not only added some new functionality, but it has also tightened the integration of the product throughout, so that features such as Soundex, survey data, and so forth are much easier to incorporate into predictive models.

► The tighter integration with SPSS Predictive Enterprise Services reflects these efforts and enhances the ability to leverage CRISP-DM.

► Both customers and prospects should be aware that such capabilities as Clementine’s anomaly detection algorithm/feature selection algorithm can enhance any number of critical processes, such as fraud detection and regulatory compliance, as well as improve an organization’s understanding of its customers. This should improve up-selling and cross-selling opportunities, in addition to demonstrating an understanding of the true value of the customer.

SOX Increases Interest in Technology Spending

January 13th - Complaining about Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) has almost become a national, if not international, pastime. This is not to say that there isn’t a lot to complain with respect to the regulation - the costs and efforts of compliance can be formidable, especially to small organizations. Indeed, SOX still concerns small organizations, and despite the fact that the regulation has changed to accommodate some of the needs of these organizations, they are still not universally sold on costs versus benefits ratio.

Furthermore, the costs and efforts aren’t restricted to public and U.S.-based organizations, since many of these organizations are forced to meet some of the requirements by the marketplace. 2006 therefore could be an interesting year for organizations that have met, or will meet, SOX requirements.

Recommended Competitive Responses

► Because 2006 promises to be a good year in terms of SOX spending, technology vendors of all kinds should prepare to meet any uptick in spending.

► Vendors with solutions for risk management, as well as solutions that support the control environment and the compliance process, should be the biggest winners this year.

► Vendors of all sorts of technology that support SOX should see some increase in spending, and therefore these vendors should positioning their products to show how their capabilities solve some unique and intrinsically important SOX requirements.

► Vendors across the board should demonstrate how their technology automates and controls the costs of the compliance process.

Recommended End User/Customer Responses

► In general, users should consider SOX not simply as a requirement, but as an opportunity to get their financial house in order, and also to enhance their overall competitive positioning. While the implementing the requirements may not be without some pain, many organizations have reported that it provides more benefits than difficulties. Private companies will also benefit. Not only are there the operating and financial benefits, but support should eliminate some of the concerns that restrict financing.

► Obviously, users should look at technology solutions to meet their specific needs in terms of SOX. Also, look for solutions that have strong ease-of-use features and that can lower the overall cost of compliance. Moreover, small users should consider solutions that are geared toward their type and size of organization.

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