TIBCO Software has announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Spotfire, a rapidly growing, privately held software company. This, in an all-cash transaction valued at approximately $195 million.
Spotfire is headquartered in Somerville, Massachusetts, and is a leader in next-generation business intelligence (BI) software.
The announcement is the latest example of TIBCO's ongoing commitment to providing a complete, real-time and event-driven infrastructure that organisations need to compete in the 21st century.
While a myriad data management technologies, applications and interface standards are making information increasingly available today, the technically diverse environment where the data resides, too often remains unresponsive and disconnected from business users across the enterprise.
Most large IT vendors are overly invested in the status quo and only offer traditional BI architectures of dashboards, proprietary application stacks, and transactional process management. Uniting Spotfire's next generation BI capabilities with TIBCO's solutions for service-oriented architecture, business process management (BPM), and business optimisation will transform the way business users interact with data.
"Our customers are constantly seeking a sustainable and systemic information advantage," says Marco Gerazounis, TIBCO country manager - South Africa. "The combination of Spotfire's next generation BI capabilities with TIBCO's real-time infrastructure will successfully transform the way customers can interact with data, to offer a complete and contextual picture for making truly informed decisions. Until now, no one has been able to deliver this type of joint offering."
"Today's front-line decision-makers want not only unparalleled access to business-critical information, but also a broader, clearer view of how that data relates to processes," says Christopher Ahlberg, chief executive officer of Spotfire. "By bolstering our platform with TIBCO's real-time infrastructure, we can deliver a responsive and user-friendly environment for businesses to discover new insights, make better decisions and take action. This combination provides the information advantage that is a prerequisite to the competitive advantage that all our customers seek."
Spotfire provides an interactive, visual approach to data analysis that puts the power to ask and answer questions on demand directly into the hands of a wide range of business professionals. Unlike current first generation BI systems, the Spotfire Enterprise Analytic platform is architected to deliver a radically faster experience and one that is infinitely more adaptable to multiple industries and business processes. The Spotfire Enterprise Analytics platform delivers the ability to ask and answer virtually unconstrained questions.
Spotfire has over 800 active customers, including such global leaders as ABN AMRO, AMD, Boehringer Ingleheim, Chevron, Merck, Pfizer, Shell, Texas Instruments, Toshiba, Unilever, along with a variety of government agencies involved in both civilian and intelligence services. Spotfire also has a strong global sales force and solution partner network.
The acquisition is expected to close in Q3 of fiscal 2007 and is subject to regulatory approvals and other customary closing conditions. Upon completion of the acquisition, TIBCO plans to retain the Spotfire brand and operate Spotfire as a business unit within TIBCO, led by Christopher Ahlberg, Spotfire's CEO, who will focus on developing, selling and servicing Spotfire's products and solutions.
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