ebizQ colleague Beth Gold-Bernstein provides a great analysis of Software AG's announcement that it was buying integration vendor webMethods.
Beth points out that the combination of the two companies' technologies serve up quite an offering, addressing governance, BPM/BAM,application composition, application integration and legacy modernization.
As Beth puts it, "After many years of observing this industry the sad truth is the best technology does not always win. Success much more depends on market strength. Maybe in this case the acquisition will create a stronger company which will propel some leading technologies to the forefront of the market and challenge the other vendors to step up."
However, Neil Ward-Dutton, also posting here at ebizQ, is a little more cynical about what it all means, opining that Software AG wasn't looking for technology, but rather, a foothold in the North American market which webMethods has in abundance.
My view is that Software AG, which has a lot of experience in the legacy systems market, recognizes the potential SOA has in extending and modernizing these systems. webMethods has been strong in this area. Legacy-to-SOA is a vast, and still largely untapped frontier, and ultimately, what will drive SOA adoption.
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