Software AG Solidifies webMethods Acquisition with SOA Suite Rollout

On July 25th Software AG unveiled the webMethods product suite as a comprehensive product portfolio for business integration, service-oriented architecture (SOA), business process management (BPM), and legacy modernization. With best-of-breed technology spanning the entire portfolio, the webMethods product suite maintains and extends current investments in Software AG's Crossvision and webMethods technologies.

Recommended Competitor Actions

► Rival SOA platform vendors should position Software AG’s formal announcement of the webMethods product suite as a paper tiger, a compelling solution that does not yet exist as a complete solution that can be purchased and installed. There is a large number of product rationalization efforts still required before the company can begin entering the sales cycle with the webMethods suite.

► Competitors in the SOA integration space and middleware space (e.g., TIBCO, Oracle, BEA, Sun, Microsoft, etc.) should expand and enhance support for SOA governance technologies, continuing to focus on real-time policy enforcement. However, these vendors must begin emphasizing rule- and workflow-based design time/development time governance utilizing a role-driven interface for both business analysts and IT architects.

► Competitors (e.g., IBM, Progress, TIBCO, Sun, and BEA) should attempt to merge BAM and BPM functionality with complex event processing (CEP) tools. This means creating a bi-directional flow of information between both the business intelligence side and process optimization side that starts with process design and ends with process monitoring, repair, and optimization. This will pull these competitors away from Software AG, which is not focusing on this end of the SOA spectrum.

► Competing vendors with strong post-sale integration services should call attention to the fact that Software AG is currently retooling its professional services organization. This will certainly benefit from an infusion of intellectual capital from webMethods in the long run, but for now, Software AG’s efforts will be hampered until the company has rationalized product lines and settled upon a single set of deliverables.

► Rival SOA vendors without highly unified tooling should immediately prioritize the development of design and development offerings that are both Eclipse-based and able to work in concert with BAM/BPM and registry/repository software, facilitating run-time business process optimization. This will be a key differentiator for Software AG.

| Client Access - Application Infrastructure |

IBM Acquires DataMirror to Expand Heterogeneous Event Processing and Changed Data Capture

On July 16th IBM and DataMirror announced an agreement for IBM to acquire DataMirror, a vendor of real-time changed data capture (CDC), replication, synchronization, and event processing software products.IBM announced an intention to integrate the DataMirror organization with the IBM Information Platform and Solutions business unit.

Recommended Competitor Actions

► Rival DI vendors should position IBM’s impending acquisition of DataMirror as bringing nothing new to the competitive fray. In particular, Informatica, Oracle, and Sybase should call attention to the fact that they provide heterogeneous CDC, replication, synchronization, and event processing as integral components of comprehensive, multiplatform DI suites comparable to the soon-to-be-converged IBM/DataMirror offerings.

► Rival DI vendors should attempt to spur defections among current DataMirror users by suggesting—with good reason—that IBM may eventually phase out the acquired vendor’s offerings in favor of its own CDC, replication, and event processing solutions. Unlike the Ascential acquisition, in which IBM acquired several DI and DQ products that did not overlap with its own offerings, the DataMirror acquisition overlaps almost 100 percent with existing offerings under IBM Information Server.

► Rival DBMS vendors should continue to strengthen their ability to support real-time, scalable, heterogeneous CDC, replication, synchronization, and event processing. Oracle should stress that its recently released DBMS-integrated Oracle Data Integrator—incorporating Sunopsis technology—is equal in sophistication both to IBM Information Server and to DataMirror’s solutions. Microsoft should acquire a DI pure-play, such as Attunity or Pervasive Software, to strengthen the real-time, heterogeneous CDC/event processing functionality in the forthcoming SQL Server 2008.

► Rival DI pure-play vendors with strong real-time CDC, replication, synchronization, and event processing solutions should seek out strategic suitors to match the formidable market clout of the soon-to-be-converged IBM/DataMirror. In particular, Attunity, Pervasive Software, and ETI should each approach any of several leading SOA/ESB/DI vendors that have strong event processing strategies, including TIBCO, BEA, and Progress Software.

| Client Access - Data Management |