I seriously think they need to change the name to Hoover. Open Text sucks up another WCMS vendor in embattled Vignette. I had blogged about this all the way back in August of last year. Marko more recently pondered it’s fate and if nothing else at least the speculation is over. I suppose the bargain is too good to pass up but I can’t see where this adds anything to Open Text’s portfolio other than maintenance revenue.
Let’s not forget my guess in January after Interwoven was snapped-up. I think that was the trigger for Vignette to get serious and find a buyer, or allow the buyer to commit.
http://wordofpie.com/2009/01/22/vignette-is-losing-at-musical-chairs/
Well done, though let’s face it. Predicting Open Text to acquire an ECM company isn’t a stretch.
-Pie
Yes. The problem that OpenText has now is that it’s really a game of which platform (RedDot or Vignette). Then again there is a strategy that this fits into, tune in tomorrow.
It’s unfortunate that Vignette and Hyland could not have found each other. It would have brought Hyland up to the enterprise level. Now for Hyland the only option is to build their own and in this tough economic times that’s really NOT an option. It’s also a huge weakness that I would expect to see competitors focusing on.
My prediction is that the acquisition market in ECM is now dry. If we do see any acquisition it will be the case of a life ring being thrown to a much needed technology niche. The only exception may be if the economic conditions bring a big vendor into play but I don’t see much of that happening.