lustratus LiteBytes

Software AG, the owner of the popular webMethods suite of SOA and BPM products, has acquired Data Foundations, the US-based Master Data Management (MDM) vendor. This is a great acquisition, because the single version of the truth provided by MDM technology is often an essential component of business process management applications.

The only issue is that there is an element of catch-up here, since major BPM/SOA vendors like IBM and Oracle have had MDM capabilities for some time. But putting that aside, the fit between Data Foundations, Inc. and Software AG looks very neat. There is no product overlap to worry about, and the Data Foundations solution excels in one of the key areas that is also a strength for Software AG – that of Governance. Software AG offers one of the best governance solutions in the industry, built around its CentraSite technology, and Data Foundations has also made governance a major focus, which should result in a strong and effective marriage between the two technology bases. From a user perspective, MDM brings major benefits to business process implementations controlled through BPM technology, because the data accuracy and uniqueness enables more efficient solutions, eliminating duplication of work and effort while avoiding the customer relations disaster of marketing to the same customer multiple times.

Good job Software AG.