PeopleSoft inks integration deal with Ascential

Computerworld - Business applications maker PeopleSoft Inc. has cut a deal with integration technology vendor Ascential Software Corp. to handle the integration plumbing for its line of corporate performance management software.
The two companies today announced that PeopleSoft is embedding Ascential code into its performance suite as well as reselling Ascential's Packaged Application Connection Kits (PACK).
"As our customers extend analytic solutions across multiple departments, seamless data integration becomes increasingly important," Renee Lorton, senior vice president and general manager of PeopleSoft Enterprise Financial Management, said in a statement. In particular, Lorton said, PeopleSoft wanted Ascential because of the breadth of its offering, as well as its metadata management tools, which will help customers do rollouts more quickly and cut software costs.
The Ascential DataStage software transforms and moves transactional, operational and analytic data, while Ascential's MetaStage software manages and integrates enterprise metadata. Ascential DataStage is being immediately embedded in PeopleSoft Enterprise Performance Management (EPM) offerings, while Ascential MetaStage is slated to be incorporated in PeopleSoft's EPM product later this year.
Pleasanton, Calif.-based PeopleSoft said it has also licensed DataStage Server and Ascential PACKs for PeopleSoft Enterprise and EnterpriseOne products. The company plans to resell Ascential PACKs for SAP BW and SAP R/3, as well as for applications from Siebel Systems Inc. and Oracle Corp.
The move has implications for the hundreds of existing PeopleSoft customers who have already installed software from Informatica Corp., said Jack Hafeli, an analyst at Ventana Research. Redwood City, Calif.-based Informatica was PeopleSoft's prior integration software partner.
In a note published online, Hafeli urged these Informatica users to "cautiously assess the migration challenges with business requirements in mind." Switching from Informatica could be difficult, but he said that Westboro, Mass.-based Ascential and PeopleSoft are simultaneously announcing a program to help customers seeking to convert to Ascential. That program will include free consulting for training and testing the new product.
However, "if your organization has vested IT skills and budgetary resources in Informatica's data integration solutions across the enterprise, you should consider the potential advantages of continuing to use the Informatica solutions," Hafeli said.
Financial details of the arrangement weren't released.