Open Text Ripe for Takeover, Eh? March 23, 2008
Posted by msillanp in Content Management.Tags: Content Management, Google, Hyland, Microsoft, Open Text, SAP
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When a local paper starts to speculate on acquisitions, I’ve learned to take notice. You see those of us in the industry have our contacts usually with either an NDA or FrieNDA in place. But papers have theirs sources, some friend of a friend to a journalist.
So the article over the weekend caught my attention. Was this some journalist with a hot tip trying to make his mark or a piece to beef up the Saturday business section? I read the article from the Waterloo Record hoping to discover a tip but discovering it was more filler. But it did bring up an interesting candidate, though the author didn’t see it himself. So while Lee looked at where Open Text was today, I thought I’d look at where they might go. I loved to see the quote, “Representatives of … said their company doesn’t comment on acquisition speculations.” But we can speculate. So let me look at the two motioned in the article and one that I can’t believe that wasn’t.
Output Management Acquisitions March 11, 2008
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management, EMC.Tags: Document Sciences, Documentum, ECM, EMC, Omtool, Optio, SAP, Streamserve
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A vendor you might not have run across, Optio, is being acquired by Bottomline Technologies. Optio is a competitor of Document Sciences which was acquired recently by EMC. No one seems to really know what to call this space. The best term is probably output management but looking at a Venn diagram of related products is like trying to read a newspaper through a bubble bath. Composition, publishing, customer communication, transactional document management. Whatever you call it, two similar products in this field being snapped up at the same time by bigger fish is generally reason to take notice. (more…)
Thoughts on SAP, Endeca and the Retail Marketplace (why not EMC?) February 8, 2008
Posted by Lee Dallas in EMC, Technology.Tags: Autonomy, EMC, Endeca, Oracle, SAP, Search
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I commented some weeks ago on the possible role that EMC, Oracle and SAP might play in the search vendor acquisition game currently playing out. The question on the table in the thread was whether or not Autonomy would remain autonomous. Now we learn that SAP and Intel have invested a total of $15 million in search vendor Endeca. The deal doesn’t suggest that they are looking to buy a search engine to replace Trex but rather enhance the specialized search capabilities. This ultimately may say something about their strategy for a particular vertical market.
Open Text and the ECM Flea Market February 5, 2008
Posted by Lee Dallas in Content Management, ECM.Tags: Content Management, EMC, IBM, IXOS, Open Text, SAP, SharePoint
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I was going through press releases and ran across an announcement about the Open Text earnings release later this week. Something caught my eye in the text that may be more relevant now than ever. Since the acquisition of Hummingbird in 2006, they have been using the tag line “Largest Independent Provider of ECM Software.” All of the industry reports make a point to pick up and push this message on their behalf but these days it seems more of weather worn “For Sale” sign than a business strategy.
