Gabriela Garner, EMC Information Intelligence Group

The latest news about Autonomy’s acquisition of certain CA Information Governance business group products (CA Message Manager and CA Records Manager) got me to thinking about the strategic differences among companies in the Information Governance space. On the one hand, you have companies that build or acquire products and technologies to further strengthen their existing offerings, fill product gaps, or break into new markets. They have a clear strategy and their acquisitions reflect a decision to purchase and incorporate a technology or company because it fits well within that strategy. On the other hand, you have companies that acquire products and technologies that do not appear to have a strategic fit. It seems more likely they made a tactical decision to milk the maintenance revenue stream or pirate the installed base for a short-term advantage. This tactical rather than strategic approach can be dangerous not only to the purchasing company, but more importantly it can pose a threat to customers in the installed base of both the existing and purchased companies.

Autonomy has a long history of acquiring technologies and products, largely to propagate their IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) technology, which was my experience when I was a ZANTAZ employee. That’s all well and good for Autonomy, but I doubt that many ZANTAZ customers were originally shopping for an enterprise-wide search platform. I am sure most were looking for an email management solution, but they are now being force-fed a very complex and expensive solution to a problem that they may not have. Several analysts have noted the complexity involved in an IDOL integration, both during the install and after, in the form of increased maintenance for the product. Gartner had this to say in their December 2009 market scope for eDiscovery: “Depending on the components a company chooses, implementation can take between one and six months or longer.”

Autonomy has a long history of acquiring technologies and products, largely to propagate their IDOL (Intelligent Data Operating Layer) technology, which was my experience when I was a ZANTAZ employee. That’s all well and good for Autonomy, but I doubt that many ZANTAZ customers…….

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