Data quality market consolidating |
 |
By Barney Beal, News Editor
| |
|
|
Seeking a stronger footing in the lucrative U.S. market and to add data profiling to its data quality arsenal, Similarity Systems has acquired Evoke Software.
Dublin, Ireland-based Similarity purchased Evoke Software Corp. of Austin, Texas, from its parent company Conversion Services International (CSI) Inc. on Monday. Terms of the deal were not released.
The acquisition builds on an existing partnership between the two companies that provided repository-level integration between Evoke's data profiling product Axio and Similarity's data quality tool, Athanor.
"For Similarity, what Evoke offers is an entree into the U.S. market, which is critical to the company," said Robert Lerner, analyst with Sterling, Va.-based Current Analysis Inc. "It has a presence in the U.K., Ireland and Europe, but it's looking for the U.S. and that's the biggest market for data quality."
Additionally, the acquisition augments Similarity's portfolio by adding data profiling, which has evolved into a part of the data quality market, Lerner said. Almost all the major data quality vendors offer data profiling.
"This integrated solution includes data profiling, content analysis, matching and enhancement capabilities, spanning data quality projects from start to finish and providing a bridge between the business and IT professionals involved," Garry Moroney, CEO of Similarity, said in a statement.
For Evoke, the sale takes it out of the control of CSI, a services company that purchased Evoke just one year ago, and aligns it with a technology company that will develop the software, Lerner said. Despite the shifting ownership, Evoke's customers can also take some comfort in being purchased by a technology company, he added.
The sale also brings brand recognition and the customers Similarity needs to succeed in the U.S.
"Are the market dynamics going to change? Nah, not overnight," Lerner said. "But it puts them on the map. It'll give them a bump in the North American market."
|
|
|
|
