Ascential Software South Africa and IBM South Africa have announced the local ratification of the strategic global partnership between the two companies. In terms of the relationship, IBM will sell Ascential`s DataStage data integration solution into its extensive customer base and across its various server platforms.
IBM is a clear leader in the business intelligence market, with a comprehensive range of solutions for enterprise customers, including its own extraction, transformation and load (ETL) product, says Simon Jeggo, database product manager at IBM South Africa. However, its ETL product lacks the in-depth functionality of DataStage, which has been developed specifically for any-source to any-target integration.
"We have a policy of partnering with best-of-breed companies," says Jeggo, "and Ascential with DataStage clearly fits this description. While we have our own ETL capability, it is largely for the DB2 market - for DB2 to flatfile, and for DB2 to DB2. DataStage addresses a far broader market, making it ideal for many of our customers, who may use other products."
The partnership embraces the full range of DataStage solutions, including DataStage 390 for DB2, the MetaStage metadata tool, and the product set from the recently acquired Vality Corporation, of which IBM had already been a partner.
The two companies have a close working relationship, and have laid the foundation for a successful partnership with IBM`s sales and technical staff undergoing training on the Ascential solution set, which is being integrated into the IBM environment. In addition, they are working jointly on a number of customer engagements.
The local relationship between IBM and Ascential is a logical and evolutionary one. Ascential was born out of the acquisition by the then Informix of Ardent Software, which had created DataStage. When IBM acquired Informix last year, it paid more than $1 billion to Ascential, which was effectively Ardent under a new name. Jeggo, who had headed up Ardent and then Informix, was appointed as GM of IBM`s database business, with Julian Field being appointed as GM of Ascential.
"We have been impressed by IBM`s commitment to the partnership," says Field. "We anticipate this relationship further extending our leadership in the local market."
Share
Editorial contacts