The financial terms of the deal have not been disclosed. The transaction is expected to close later this year and is subject to regulatory approval.
CDI refers to a new category of integration software that attempts to address an age-old problem in business computing – getting a single consistent view of the customer.
The software integrates and reconciles customer-related data strewn across multiple sales and marketing databases and applications. CDI is based on an eclectic stack of technology processes, and services that are layered over corporate information systems. The software is increasingly used in post-merger operations and regulatory compliance settings.
DWL’s technology will further strengthen IBM’s impressive stack of data management technologies, providing a key component of its master data management solutions. We’re providing an integrated middleware infrastructure that manages information and aligns that information in real time with business processes, said Janet Perna, general manager of IBM’s Information Management division, in a statement announcing the acquisition.
DWL’s technology will fall under her division’s Enterprise Master Data Solutions group and will sit alongside a sister offering for product information management (PIM) called WebSphere Product Center and a bespoke data modeling service called CIIS.
We’re buying DWL to reinforce our leadership in master data management, which we see as a critical category, said Tom Reilly, vice president of enterprise master data solutions at IBM.
We already have a leading product in the product management [PIM] category but have not had anything in the customer space before now. We’ll be taking all the industry data modeling experience from our CIIS assignments and putting that into DWL’s product.
DWL was founded in 1996 and originally focused on financial services industry. The company employs around 140 people globally – All DWL’s people are coming on board, said Reilly. DWL’s has around 25 large customers in the banking, insurance, telco, retail and manufacturing sectors. Notable customers include Staples and MetLife.
DWL’s Java-based platform links together customer data using the concept of master data records. The software runs on top of IBM’s WebSphere application server, DB2 database and integration tools, which points to a smooth integration within IBM’s technology stack.
DWL is already a strategic partner IBM business partner and we have a substantial joint pipeline, Reilly said, explaining why it chose DWL over other independent CDI specialists like Siperian Inc. Most of DWL’s customer wins invoke an IBM partnership in one form or the other.
He added: Plus DWL already runs on the IBM stack and follows our standards and architecture guidelines which gives us a fast head start in integration.
Reilly said DWL’s Customer product will be rebranded under WebSphere. However he stressed that this did not preclude the product from being used with other vendors’ application servers or database platforms. IBM has a good track record of delivering solutions on open platforms. There will be no mandate for DWL customers to move to our app server or database.
Our PIM offering was also based on an acquisition [Trigo] 16 months ago and it still runs on a cross-platform environment.
But he acknowledged that there was nothing that precluded IBM from optimizing DWL’s software for Ascential’s integration tools rather than others. We follow an open approach that that allows us to work with other platform providers. Yet we also try to provide a single vendor, one-stop-shop and all the advantages that come with it.
CDI’s business is the tenth software acquisition by IBM since 2001 that has been absorbed into its Information Management division. Recently Armonk, New York-based IBM bought Venetica (content integration), Trigo (product and RFID information management) and Ascential (data integration). DWL might possibly be the last acquisition that Perna oversees. She retires next month.
IBM shares dipped 12 cents to $83.31, at the close of NYSE yesterday.
