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PowerTech Acquires Single Sign-On Expert TriAWorks

iSeries security software provider The PowerTech Group said last week it had acquired TriAWorks, a privately held company based in Houston that provides a management layer for the Enterprise Identity Mapping (EIM) functions that IBM wove into OS/400 with the V5R2 release. TriAWorks sells a product called TriAWorks Identity Manager for Single Sign-On (TIM SSO), which is a rules-based engine that allows system administrators to map end user identities across OS/400, Windows, and Linux platforms and WebSphere and Domino middleware. Exactly how PowerTech plans to weave its PowerLock Authority Broker and other software with TIM SSO is unclear. PowerTech, which is based in Kent, Washington, is also a privately held company, and did not divulge the financial details of the deal. The company did say, however, that it planned to maintain a development office in Houston.

IBM Buys Open Source Middleware Supplier Gluecode Software

Having seen the writing on the wall now that the open source JBoss Web application server is J2EE compliant and growing rapidly in popularity and its WebSphere software is overkill for many small and mid-sized businesses, IBM made an interesting move last week when it acquired privately held Gluecode Software, a provider of support for the Apache Geronimo Java application server based in El Segundo, California.

Within the next few weeks, Gluecode was getting ready to launch an enterprise-class version of its Joe application server, which is based on the Apache Geronimo server, which is itself an open source alternative to JBoss, WebSphere, WebLogic, and other J2EE-compliant Web application servers. Like other companies trying to make money off of open source projects, Gluecode offers packaging, support, and other services for Apache Geronimo. IBM needed a less sophisticated and less costly Web application server, and Gluecode is peddling one that offers support that costs from $500 to $2,500 a year. How IBM will integrate Gluecode with the iSeries remains to be seen, but in keeping with its eServer philosophy, it is hard to imagine the Joe app server won't eventually be an option on the iSeries. IBM has been using the Apache Web server at the heart of WebSphere for years, and recently contributed its Cloudscape database (written in Java) to the Apache Foundation's Derby Project. IBM plans to contribute to the Geronimo project and to make Gluecode's software available for free. Gluecode will be integrated into IBM's Software Group.

OLAP Report Says OLAP Market Grew 15.7 Percent in 2004

According to the analysts at British market researcher The OLAP Report, last year was the best one since 2000 for the online analytical processing (OLAP) subset of the data warehousing software market. OLAP Report reckons that companies engaged in this market segment had $4.3 billion in sales last year, up 15.7 percent. This was ahead of predictions, and well ahead of the single-digit growth the OLAP market had from 2001 through 2003. OLAP processing got off to an explosive boom in 1996, with $1 billion in sales, and hit above $2.5 billion in 1999. The company is projecting good growth, with sales approaching $6 billion by 2007. That growth will come even after several waves of consolidation and a lot of pricing pressure from Microsoft, which started embedding OLAP services in SQL Server in 1999, tweaked it in 2000, and has been using price to compete as other vendors add functionality.

The consolidation in the OLAP software industry is profound, with the top five vendors--Microsoft, Hyperion Solutions, Cognos, Business Objects, and MicroStrategy accounting for 76.5 percent of worldwide sales in 2004; the top 10 vendors account for about 95 percent. OLAP Report reckons that about a third of Microsoft's SQL Server sales should really be attributed to OLAP and extract-transform-load (ETL) tools. Hyperion's products, which have been ported to the iSeries, are holding their own against Microsoft so far, but the company has seen a steady drain on revenue and market share since Microsoft entered the market.

Agilysys Acquires Storage Specialist CTS for $28 Million

IT distributor Agilysys, one of the biggest resellers of hardware, software, and services in the world and one of the three master distributors of the iSeries, announced last week it has ponied up $28 million to acquire The CTS Corporations, a storage services organization with 200 storage engineers that is located in Roswell, Georgia. Agilysys will also assume $3 million in CTS' debt as part of the acquisition. Agilysys said CTS had sales of $35 million last year, and during its fiscal 2006, it expected to bring in about $30 million in revenue and anywhere from 3 to 5 cents per share of profits. Agilysys just closed out its fiscal 2005 on March 31, and posted sales of $1.62 billion, up 16 percent, and net income of $21.6 million, or $72 cents a share. The company is only predicting a revenue increase in fiscal 2006 of 5 to 7 percent and net income in the range of 80 to 88 cents a share. The CTS deal only adds a small amount of sales, but it adds a proportionately larger bump to profits.

Lakeview to Distribute Evaluation Versions of MIMIX dr1 with i5/OS V5R3

High availability software maker Lakeview Technology said last week it is now able to distribute free evaluation versions of its MIMIX dr1availability software for the iSeries platform alongside the i5/OS V5R3 installation disks that come with each new i5 server. The evaluation software will also be available to customers that buy upgrades to an i5 server. Lakeview joins Bytware, The PowerTech Group, and CCSS, which have similar evaluation version distribution agreements with IBM.

Midrange Modernization Tour Kicks Off in NYC

The Midrange Modernization Tour kicked off last week in New York City, where representatives from Microsoft and experts on IBM's midrange iSeries server converged to discuss strategies for integrating OS/400 applications with Windows applications, and in some cases, migrating OS/400 applications to Windows. The tour, which continues May 18 in Chicago and June 22 in Toronto, provides a forum for members of Microsoft's Midrange Alliance program to talk about their strategies for iSeries-Windows integration. Meanwhile, Microsoft has recruited another iSeries software vendor, HiT Software, to the Midrange Alliance. Silicon Valley-based HiT Software writes middleware that makes it easier for developers to integrate Windows applications with the DB2/400 database that is integrated with the iSeries' OS/400 operating system. For more information on the Midrange Alliance, visit www.microsoft.com/midrange.

iSeries Technical Conference Coming in June

Just a friendly reminder: the i5 and iSeries Technical Conference, hosted by IBM, will be held in the San Francisco Hilton from June 6 through 10. IBM always brings out its top technical experts to provide attendees with the latest information on the i5 platform and the i5/OS operating system. It's an opportunity to get the latest i5 strategy and direction, get advice on upgrade paths, and learn about IBM products such as DB2/UDB, WebSphere Portal, and Lotus Domino Workplace. Sessions are also available on topics such as cross-platform management tools, logical partitioning, AIX on the iSeries, and building Web applications on the platform. You can sign up here.