While PeopleSoft continues to fend off Oracle's hostile takeover bid, other application vendors are wooing each other on more friendly terms. Indeed, several iSeries vendors have rushed to the acquisition altar over the past several weeks. Their mergers are a response to the growing competition that smaller application providers are facing from larger enterprise software vendors.
The latest round of acquisitions began two weeks ago when iSeries vendor SSA Global announced that it is purchasing Arzoon for an undisclosed sum. Arzoon offers supply chain execution (SCE) solutions that manage the complex shipping and logistics requirements of international trade. Given the increasingly global nature of most trade, Arzoon participates in one of the fastest-growing solution categories in the software industry.
According to SSA sources, Arzoon's technologies will become part of SSA Transportation Management and SSA Warehouse Management. These applications are part of a suite of supply chain solutions that SSA acquired when it purchased iSeries vendors Baan and EXE Technologies. By adding Arzoon to this suite, SSA could be in a better position to meet the SCE needs of its customers than SAP, PeopleSoft, and Oracle. The Arzoon acquisition also puts SSA on a competitive footing with "best of breed" SCE providers, including iSeries vendor Manhattan Associates.
Three days after SSA's announcement, JDA Software Group followed suit by acquiring QRS Corporation in a stock deal valued at around $100 million. As a provider of core business applications for retailers, JDA has been expanding its product footprint with acquisitions of numerous companies. With the QRS acquisition, JDA gains software that enables retailers and their suppliers to share and synchronize product information across value chains. The acquisition also makes JDA the world's largest retail-specific software vendor on a revenue basis.
While JDA still provides software for the iSeries--its Merchandise Management System runs on the server--the vendor has been porting its solutions to Microsoft's .NET development platform. In response, IBM has shifted its support to Retek, JDA's biggest competitor and a company that is committed to running its applications on IBM's WebSphere and DB2 middleware. One day before the JDA-QRS announcement, Retek reinforced that commitment by becoming a member of IBM's ISV Advantage for Industries program. At present, Retek's applications run on IBM's pSeries and xSeries servers. However, it is likely that Retek will soon certify its applications for the newest release of AIX 5L, which can run in logical partitions on the eServer i5. This will make the vendor a viable alternative to JDA for many iSeries customers.
It is also interesting to note that IBM is integrating product information management and data synchronization services into its WebSphere middleware. The company acquired these services when it purchased Trigo Technologies two months ago. Big Blue has given Trigo's applications a new name--WebSphere Product Center--and has made them part of its WebSphere Business Integration product line. IBM will likely offer WebSphere Product Center as an alternative to the data synchronization suite that JDA acquired in the QRS merger. Like the Retek solutions, WebSphere Product Center runs on AIX 5L. This means that IBM will probably support it on AIX partitions within the eServer i5 along with Retek's products.
There is news on the street that other iSeries application vendors are also on the hunt for eligible partners. One of those vendors, Intentia, has hired Bertrand Sciard--a former Geac CEO--as its new chief executive to return the company to profitability and boost its sales. According to sources close to the company, Sciard's recovery plan could include the acquisition of an ERP vendor that has a significant share of the United States market. While nobody at Intentia is naming names, my guess is that Geac, Lawson, and MAPICS could be on Sciard's short list.
Strength in (Fewer) Numbers
The latest mergers demonstrate that many iSeries vendors subscribe to Benjamin Franklin's famous quote, "Unless we all hang together, we will all hang separately." The latter type of hanging is a distinct possibility in today's market, where big players such as Oracle and SAP are aggressively pursuing the medium-size companies that are the natural customers of most iSeries vendors. Last month, for instance, SAP announced its Best Practices family of Customer Relationship Management, ERP, and vertical industry solutions for mid-market companies. With their attractive pricing, the new SAP packages could prove to be potent competitors for vertical solutions from other iSeries vendors.
Word also has it that Oracle is on the verge of unveiling a version of its E-Business Suite that is designed for companies with fewer than 500 employees. Sources close to the company believe that prices for the package could start at $35,000 for 10 users, a level that Oracle has already tested in some European and Asian markets. While E-Business Suite does not run on the iSeries, it does run on the pSeries and therefore may become available on the eServer i5 within AIX partitions.
These software giants are focusing on medium-sized businesses for one simple reason: From a sales standpoint, the large enterprise market has become saturated and stagnant. That is driving first-tier vendors to seek out smaller firms and compete with their incumbent software providers. However, first-tier vendors will not find it easy to dislodge the incumbents, as most medium-sized companies are cautious when it comes to switching out core business applications. Still, the incumbents are not counting on the loyalty of their clients. They are merging to expand their customer bases and make their products functionally equal to those of the big players.
In short, vendor consolidation is a trend that will continue for the next several years. That makes it all the more important for iSeries customers to evaluate the financial health and product strategies of their primary software providers. After all, choosing an enterprise application vendor is somewhat like a merger in its own right. You don't want to commit yourself to one provider today only to find that they are another provider tomorrow.
Lee Kroon is a Senior Industry Analyst for Andrews Consulting Group, a firm that helps mid-sized companies manage business transformation through technology. You can reach him at
More than ever, there is a demand for IT to deliver innovation. Your IBM i has been an essential part of your business operations for years. However, your organization may struggle to maintain the current system and implement new projects. The thousands of customers we've worked with and surveyed state that expectations regarding the digital footprint and vision of the company are not aligned with the current IT environment.
TRY the one package that solves all your document design and printing challenges on all your platforms. Produce bar code labels, electronic forms, ad hoc reports, and RFID tags – without programming! MarkMagic is the only document design and print solution that combines report writing, WYSIWYG label and forms design, and conditional printing in one integrated product. Make sure your data survives when catastrophe hits. Request your trial now! Request Now.
Forms of ransomware has been around for over 30 years, and with more and more organizations suffering attacks each year, it continues to endure. What has made ransomware such a durable threat and what is the best way to combat it? In order to prevent ransomware, organizations must first understand how it works.
Disaster protection is vital to every business. Yet, it often consists of patched together procedures that are prone to error. From automatic backups to data encryption to media management, Robot automates the routine (yet often complex) tasks of iSeries backup and recovery, saving you time and money and making the process safer and more reliable. Automate your backups with the Robot Backup and Recovery Solution. Key features include:
Business users want new applications now. Market and regulatory pressures require faster application updates and delivery into production. Your IBM i developers may be approaching retirement, and you see no sure way to fill their positions with experienced developers. In addition, you may be caught between maintaining your existing applications and the uncertainty of moving to something new.
IT managers hoping to find new IBM i talent are discovering that the pool of experienced RPG programmers and operators or administrators with intimate knowledge of the operating system and the applications that run on it is small. This begs the question: How will you manage the platform that supports such a big part of your business? This guide offers strategies and software suggestions to help you plan IT staffing and resources and smooth the transition after your AS/400 talent retires. Read on to learn:
LATEST COMMENTS
MC Press Online