The acquisition is intended to bolster Big Blue's "information on demand" initiative, launched earlier this year and backed by approximately $1 billion in IBM R&D investments. IBM aims to integrate FileNet's ECM suite with its business process management (BPM) and service-oriented architecture (SOA) technologies. The move supports a 2005 prediction by Gartner Inc. that ECM vendors will pursue acquisitions to round out their technology suites, but this acquisition may be more about market share than technology, according to Jim Murphy, research director with Boston-based AMR Research Inc.
"FileNet essentially doesn't have anything that IBM doesn't have -- except for customers," Murphy said. "It's primarily a competitive acquisition of FileNet's customers, many of [which] are very lucrative companies to work in and to be an IT provider for. [FileNet's customers] are document-centric businesses -- insurance, healthcare, telecom and banking. This acquisition is basically one of the top four vendors in the market buying another top vendor."
