Call it a Route 128 SOA date. Progress Software is buying IONA Technologies for a little over $100 million in actual value, broadening Progress's service oriented architecture (SOA) portfolio significantly and catapulting Progress into the open source software infrastructure arena.
Progress said Wednesday it is offering $4.05 per share in cash for IONA, a total equity value of $162 million, or $106 million net of cash and marketable securities. Both companies are publicly traded. The transaction is expected to be completed in September.
Both companies come from a long but quite distinct lineage, and both have their U.S. headquarters within a 20-minute drive around Boston's Route 128 technology corridor, from Bedford to Waltham. Progress has its roots in tightly coupled, client-server tools (Progress 4GL) and runtime platforms, while IONA, based in Dublin, Ireland, hails from the CORBA and middleware messaging and integration space.
Only a SOA mashup could make good bedfellows of these. That's because one company's lineage reaches back to the origins of client-server computing (Progress was founded in 1981), while the other reaches back to the emergence of the mainframe world into distributed computing (IONA was formed in 1991). SOA, of course, aims to make these worlds play well together and then build new services on top of the service-enabled older assets to offer business process advantages and efficiencies.
And yet despite their disparate origins, the companies match up quite well, on product capabilities, locations, direction and client verticals. Progress has already been acquiring in a SOA direction with the January 2006 acquisition of Actional Corp., which became the Progress unit focused on SOA management, security, and governance. IONA made a bold move to embrace open source for its SOA portfolio, supporting an open version of its Artix products, while also buying LogicBlaze in April 2007.
Combined with IONA's ESB and middleware products, Progress will emerge as a full-feature SOA infrastructure provider, but with a large installed base in deployed client-server and web applications and a strong presence in IONA's stronghold of finance and telecoms. [Disclosure: IONA is a sponsor of BriefingsDirect podcasts.]
While there is overlap between the registry/repository capabilities for both companies, separate yet interoperable registry/repositories can operate well side by side and any consolidation is fairly straight-forward. In other words, these products could work well together and then combine. The fact that both companies support SOA governance capabilities indicates more an overlap than a conflict.
UPDATE: And I'm reminded too that the Sonic purchase brought an early ESB function set to Progress. This means the combined companies will be supporting and offering several flavors of ESB. Given that IONA already offers several ESB approaches -- both commercial and open source -- this may provide confusion to customers of both companies. A clear and logical ESB story will then need to come from the companies.
Given we've seen more federated approaches to ESB in recent memory, there may well be a Progress Sonic-Artix-FUSE ecology play in the works, for a more complete ESB solution comprised of several actual products and open source options.
UPDATE: More input from bloggers Tony Baer and Joe McKendrick.
The larger question proffered by the merger comes in the relationship between commercial products and open source models. Progress has not shown as vigorous an interest in open source as IONA, which became practically a benefactor to the Apache Foundation on several notable SOA projects. Progress is very much a licenses software company at a time when the software industry is shifting to subscription and services-based approaches.
It's no surprise that IONA has been sold. IONA made it clear it would enter into acquisition talks last February. A rumored suitor was Software AG, which had recently absorbed WebMethods/Infravio. There were questions on whether IONA's open source strategy would survive any such acquisition, too.
I have to believe that the Progress IONA merger means that Progress will welcome the diversification of business models that the IONA open source strategy entails, meaning a segue from per server and per seat licensing to more of a services, support, maintenance and training revenues model. The two companies can enjoy the commercial maturity of their current products while benefitting from the lower R&D and development costs of community-based projects for newer products.
We'll have to wait to see how aggressively the soon-to-be expanded Progress Software ramps up on the open source SOA strategy. What's nice about open source SOA is that is plays well on offense and defense, meaning the supplier can offer the market products and services that can build on its strengths while attacking its competitors on the revenue sources it holds most dear.
Implications on partnering with the Progress-IONA merger will be important. A well-integrated Progress-IONA may be of significant interest to global systems integrators, as they seek options on infrastructure suppliers, and certainly appreciate a support and services model. Progress may find itself more in an ecology play with other open source providers, from HP to Novell to Ingres to, gasp, Sun (not too far away campus-wise in Burlington). Maybe Microsoft is serious about its newly forged openness and focus on supporting rather than subverting enterprise heterogeneity, and so may find Progress a ramping partner.
The merger also shifts Progress's competitive landscape, putting it more up against IBM, Oracle, and Red Hat. I think the open source data base play for Progress therefore has some interesting implications. Perhaps Ingres may make more than a partner.
In the meantime, Progress can assist its applications clients move to the more modern computing paradigms while IONA can help on the back-end for integration and high performance transactions while broadening Progress's share of wallet in more enterprises and verticals. And now, viola, Progress is an open source company. The best part of the deal, therefore, is how these two companies' installed bases give the combined firm a steady yet diversified revenue stream that should build on their legacies -- and their customers' legacies -- well.
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Sonoa Systems appeals to industry powerhouses with ServiceNet appliance
Sonoa Systems, Inc., which provides software and appliances to ensure data protection and access control in customer-facing applications, has added some world-class enterprises to its customer list.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company today announced that Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, Warner Music, and Insights OnDemand, a provider of on-demand business intelligence solutions, will be taking advantage of Sonoa's technology backbone. These companies join such other powerhouses as JP Morgan Chase, Level 3, Landslide, Net One and Aizu University.
Sonoa's ServiceNet appliance enables enterprises and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers to enable secure, flexible access control to manage a large number of clients without the risk of data exposure. The appliance can also monitor service-level agreements (SLAs) to ensure regulatory compliance.
Another key feature is interoperability, designed to reduce the time and effort required to add new clients, even those with different protocol or security requirements. It accomplishes this by mediating across versions, which can be done without generating new code.
Currently, the challenges of providing security for customer-facing applications, especially with diverse clients, are solved with point products or hand-coded software, which adds time and cost, making the solution economically unattractive.
Sonoa ServiceNet employs a network router-like architecture that non-intrusively enforces security, interoperability and performance policies in real-time 'on the wire'. By handling the access control, interoperability and performance issues that occur at cloud scale, teams can ensure maximum performance and scalability in the environment, making it easy to create new products and add new users and services.
Sonoa ServiceNet is available as a network or virtual appliance.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company today announced that Pfizer, the world's largest research-based pharmaceutical company, Warner Music, and Insights OnDemand, a provider of on-demand business intelligence solutions, will be taking advantage of Sonoa's technology backbone. These companies join such other powerhouses as JP Morgan Chase, Level 3, Landslide, Net One and Aizu University.
Sonoa's ServiceNet appliance enables enterprises and software-as-a-service (SaaS) providers to enable secure, flexible access control to manage a large number of clients without the risk of data exposure. The appliance can also monitor service-level agreements (SLAs) to ensure regulatory compliance.
Another key feature is interoperability, designed to reduce the time and effort required to add new clients, even those with different protocol or security requirements. It accomplishes this by mediating across versions, which can be done without generating new code.
Currently, the challenges of providing security for customer-facing applications, especially with diverse clients, are solved with point products or hand-coded software, which adds time and cost, making the solution economically unattractive.
Sonoa ServiceNet employs a network router-like architecture that non-intrusively enforces security, interoperability and performance policies in real-time 'on the wire'. By handling the access control, interoperability and performance issues that occur at cloud scale, teams can ensure maximum performance and scalability in the environment, making it easy to create new products and add new users and services.
Sonoa ServiceNet is available as a network or virtual appliance.
ITIL's influence extends beyond IT operations to enhance SOA, portfolio management and change management
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) advances have helped IT departments recast themselves as mature and process-oriented. But the role and influence of ITIL, especially version 3, is extending well beyond IT organization and operations improvements to impact such essential endeavors as as service oriented architecture (SOA), portfolio management and low-risk change management.
ITIL, in effect, is fostering cultural and behavioral change inside of IT departments, which also has a direct bearing on general business transformation and the ability of enterprises to innovate and compete writ large.
To help better understand the role and impact of ITIL on actual IT departments in a variety of use-case scenarios, I interviewed two ITIL practitioners, Sean McClean, principal at KatalystNow, and Hwee Ming Ng, solutions architect in HP's Consulting and Integration group. The discussion was recorded June 18 at HP's Software Universe event in Las Vegas.
This ITIL impact podcast comes as part of a series of discussions with HP executives from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) advances have helped IT departments recast themselves as mature and process-oriented. But the role and influence of ITIL, especially version 3, is extending well beyond IT organization and operations improvements to impact such essential endeavors as as service oriented architecture (SOA), portfolio management and low-risk change management.
ITIL, in effect, is fostering cultural and behavioral change inside of IT departments, which also has a direct bearing on general business transformation and the ability of enterprises to innovate and compete writ large.
To help better understand the role and impact of ITIL on actual IT departments in a variety of use-case scenarios, I interviewed two ITIL practitioners, Sean McClean, principal at KatalystNow, and Hwee Ming Ng, solutions architect in HP's Consulting and Integration group. The discussion was recorded June 18 at HP's Software Universe event in Las Vegas.
This ITIL impact podcast comes as part of a series of discussions with HP executives from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Interview: HP SOA Center director Tim Hall on new business drivers and efficiency benefits from SOA
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Service oriented architecture (SOA) is at a crossroads, moving from pilot to enterprise status for many companies. As the trends and economics landscapes shift, SOA's benefits and pay-offs are accelerating.
Green and energy-conscious companies are seeing SOA through the context of data center and applications modernization. Toss in a surge of interest in virtualization, ongoing methodological on-ramps to SOA and a budding fascination in cloud computing methods, and we’re looking at the means to accommodate (at lower TCO) all the old and new of IT systems, platforms, framework, applications and delivery services.
That takes data center transformation, and not just adding more servers. We also need is the means to manage the complexity, fragility, scale and cost. HP seems to see this clearly. The goal of data center transformation that goes hand in hand with SOA efficiency is clear, but how to get there is another matter.
To probe deeper into SOA's impact on enterprise IT and business transformation, we sat down with Tim Hall, director of HP's SOA Center products for a discussion moderated by me, recorded June 18 at HP's Software Universe event in Las Vegas.
Listen to this SOA impact podcast, part of a series of discussions with HP executives from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Service oriented architecture (SOA) is at a crossroads, moving from pilot to enterprise status for many companies. As the trends and economics landscapes shift, SOA's benefits and pay-offs are accelerating.
Green and energy-conscious companies are seeing SOA through the context of data center and applications modernization. Toss in a surge of interest in virtualization, ongoing methodological on-ramps to SOA and a budding fascination in cloud computing methods, and we’re looking at the means to accommodate (at lower TCO) all the old and new of IT systems, platforms, framework, applications and delivery services.
That takes data center transformation, and not just adding more servers. We also need is the means to manage the complexity, fragility, scale and cost. HP seems to see this clearly. The goal of data center transformation that goes hand in hand with SOA efficiency is clear, but how to get there is another matter.
To probe deeper into SOA's impact on enterprise IT and business transformation, we sat down with Tim Hall, director of HP's SOA Center products for a discussion moderated by me, recorded June 18 at HP's Software Universe event in Las Vegas.
Listen to this SOA impact podcast, part of a series of discussions with HP executives from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
Will ebizQ post my comment on proper blog link etiquette?
I wonder if this comment (below) that I left on Joe McKendrick's SOA blog on ebizQ will show up. I'll let you all know.
[UPDATE: They did, they did publish my comment, and did the requested customary link to my blog ... all's well with the web world. No harm done.]
"Thanks for the blog on my storage and SOA observations, Joe. And thanks for the link back to my SearchSOA Q&A.
However, it is customary in blogs to link back to an individual's blog when you reference them by name, though I notice that ebizQ is often stingy on this point. I've had to ask them several times now to do baseline linking.
So for ebizQ's edification, here are the links to use when referencing my name and analysis for the benefit of their readers:
--http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/
--http://briefingsdirectblog.blogspot.com/
--http://www.briefingsdirect.com/
--http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/
--http://www.findtechblogs.com/soa/
--http://www.interarbor-solutions.com/home.html
Thanks!"
[UPDATE: They did, they did publish my comment, and did the requested customary link to my blog ... all's well with the web world. No harm done.]
"Thanks for the blog on my storage and SOA observations, Joe. And thanks for the link back to my SearchSOA Q&A.
However, it is customary in blogs to link back to an individual's blog when you reference them by name, though I notice that ebizQ is often stingy on this point. I've had to ask them several times now to do baseline linking.
So for ebizQ's edification, here are the links to use when referencing my name and analysis for the benefit of their readers:
--http://blogs.zdnet.com/Gardner/
--http://briefingsdirectblog.blogspot.com/
--http://www.briefingsdirect.com/
--http://briefingsdirect.blogspot.com/
--http://www.findtechblogs.com/soa/
--http://www.interarbor-solutions.com/home.html
Thanks!"
Friday, June 20, 2008
Interview: HP information management maven Rod Walker describes how BI empowers business leaders to innovate
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Business intelligence (BI) has been a top investment for corporations in the past several years, but the ability for BI to generate value and strategic direction guidance is merely in adolescence.
In health care, customer retention, energy and oil management, and for global risk reduction and compliance, BI is offering some of the best payoffs from IT and datacenter investments, says Rod Walker, vice president for information management at HP's Consulting and Integration group.
In this podcast discussion, Walker joins me to explore how BI will continue to be one of the most effective ways for business leaders to leverage IT over he next decade. Proper information management -- including all content in all forms, and not just structured data -- provides powerful market analytics and customer and user behavior inferences to enable real-time decisions about core services, product offerings and go to market campaigns.
Listen to this BI business opportunity overview podcast recorded at HP's Software Universe event June 18, moderated by your's truly from Las Vegas. The Walker interview comes as part of a series of discussions with HP executives this week from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Business intelligence (BI) has been a top investment for corporations in the past several years, but the ability for BI to generate value and strategic direction guidance is merely in adolescence.
In health care, customer retention, energy and oil management, and for global risk reduction and compliance, BI is offering some of the best payoffs from IT and datacenter investments, says Rod Walker, vice president for information management at HP's Consulting and Integration group.
In this podcast discussion, Walker joins me to explore how BI will continue to be one of the most effective ways for business leaders to leverage IT over he next decade. Proper information management -- including all content in all forms, and not just structured data -- provides powerful market analytics and customer and user behavior inferences to enable real-time decisions about core services, product offerings and go to market campaigns.
Listen to this BI business opportunity overview podcast recorded at HP's Software Universe event June 18, moderated by your's truly from Las Vegas. The Walker interview comes as part of a series of discussions with HP executives this week from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Interview: Dan Rueckert of HP consulting digs into ITIL's role in accelerating SOA, IT service management
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
More enterprise IT departments are working toward Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) principles and reference models for running their organizations. Yet ITIL can provide more benefits than initially meets the eye, including accelerating service oriented architecture (SOA) adoption, faster mean time to recovery in IT operations, and more effective change management.
Dan Rueckert, worldwide practice director for both the service management and security practices in HP's Consulting and Integration group, explains in an interview the direct and significant ancillary payoffs from ITIL adoption -- from establishing an IT service lifecycle to defining an overall IT service strategy.
Listen to this ITIL overview podcast recorded at HP's Software Universe event June 18, moderated by your's truly from Las Vegas. The Rueckert interview comes as part of a series of discussions with HP this week from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
More enterprise IT departments are working toward Information Technology Infrastructure Library (ITIL) principles and reference models for running their organizations. Yet ITIL can provide more benefits than initially meets the eye, including accelerating service oriented architecture (SOA) adoption, faster mean time to recovery in IT operations, and more effective change management.
Dan Rueckert, worldwide practice director for both the service management and security practices in HP's Consulting and Integration group, explains in an interview the direct and significant ancillary payoffs from ITIL adoption -- from establishing an IT service lifecycle to defining an overall IT service strategy.
Listen to this ITIL overview podcast recorded at HP's Software Universe event June 18, moderated by your's truly from Las Vegas. The Rueckert interview comes as part of a series of discussions with HP this week from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Interview: HP Software's David Gee on next generation data center trends and opportunities
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Enterprise CIOs face mounting challenges that are hard and getting even harder. HP says it has a lifeline for these IT departments and leaders over the next five years by helping them to dramatically cut the size of IT budgets relative to the enterprises' total revenue. This allows a shift on IT spending from operations to innovation via next generation data centers.
David Gee, vice president of marketing for HP Software, in a podcast interview from HP's Software Universe event this week, discusses the large global opportunity for enterprises and service providers to cut the relative size of IT budgets by investing in modern data centers that save energy, consolidate applications, leverage virtualization, and rely more on automation than manual upkeep processes.
Listen to this interview podcast, moderated by your's truly from Las Vegas, for more on HP's plans for next generation data centers that focus IT on the businesses' interests.
The Gee interview comes as part of a series of discussions with HP executives I'll be doing this week from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Enterprise CIOs face mounting challenges that are hard and getting even harder. HP says it has a lifeline for these IT departments and leaders over the next five years by helping them to dramatically cut the size of IT budgets relative to the enterprises' total revenue. This allows a shift on IT spending from operations to innovation via next generation data centers.
David Gee, vice president of marketing for HP Software, in a podcast interview from HP's Software Universe event this week, discusses the large global opportunity for enterprises and service providers to cut the relative size of IT budgets by investing in modern data centers that save energy, consolidate applications, leverage virtualization, and rely more on automation than manual upkeep processes.
Listen to this interview podcast, moderated by your's truly from Las Vegas, for more on HP's plans for next generation data centers that focus IT on the businesses' interests.
The Gee interview comes as part of a series of discussions with HP executives I'll be doing this week from the HP Software Universe conference. See the full list here.
Read a full transcript of the discussion.
Listen to the podcast. Download the podcast. Listen on iTunes/iPod. Sponsor: Hewlett-Packard.
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