Computerworld - A growing realization by companies of the importance of good data is creating a changing data-quality vendor landscape, with consolidation being the major trend over the past several years. SAS Institute Inc. snagged data quality suite vendor DataFlux in 2000, and in 2002 Ascential Software Corp. bought both Metagenix and Vality.
Last year, Trillium Software's parent, Harte-Hanks Inc., bought profiling tool provider Avellino Technologies, while Intellisync Corp. bought Search Software America. Pitney Bowes Inc. got Group 1 Software Inc., and Conversion Services International Inc. got Evoke Software Corp., which it turned around and sold to Similarity Systems last July. This year, IBM bought Ascential Software, while more recently, Pitney Bowes announced its intention to acquire Firstlogic Inc., though the deal was not complete at press time.
While most of the acquisitions have been initiated by infrastructure providers, says Gartner Inc. analyst Ted Friedman, it's not unlikely that some of the pure-play vendors will end up in the hands of the enterprise application vendors. Today, ERP and CRM vendors provide minimal data quality functionality in their suites, say experts, preferring to deal with the problems through integration partnerships with data quality vendors.
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