In a move to expand its position in the burgeoning business process
management (BPM) space, Verity acquired software maker
Dralasoft for $8 million in cash.
The privately held software company from Westminster, Colo., makes Java-based
BPM and business activity monitoring software, which Verity will use to
flesh out its own portfolio of BPM products. Dralasoft customers include
Xerox, Hummingbird and Sony.
BPM software corrals activities performed via computers, such as receiving
orders, invoicing, shipping products, updating employee information, or
setting a marketing budget. That it gathers crucial information is a key
prospect to help enterprise remain up to par with compliance regulations
like SEC 17a-4 and Sarbanes-Oxley.
Dralasoft’s Workflow employs a graphical orchestration engine to integrate
workflows into Java software systems. Government, retail and
telecommunications businesses use Workflow, which supports BPEL
HTTP
Verity will apply Workflow, which includes a drag-and-drop modeling
application and management component, to its content services and process
automation software. Dralasoft also offers a BPEL Orchestrator to let
programmers build business processes that use Web services.
Owing in part to the rising popularity of Web services and the automation
capabilities they promise, BPM has been gaining in popularity by software
vendors who see the value of harnessing business orders through distributed
computing.
Oracle, IBM , BEA Systems
and Microsoft
all have
active designs for BPEL, which some experts say is a $1 billion market.
Verity will retain all Dralasoft employees, including founder President and
CTO Suresh Ramaswamy, who will serve as vice president of BPM strategy. He
will report to Mark Seamans, Verity’s senior vice president of research and
development.
Verity, which is offering Dralasoft products
immediately, will soon detail re-branding initiatives and maintenance
programs.
In related news, Verity also inked an agreement with Yahoo! in which its enterprise customers can simultaneously search internal repositories and relevant Web content indexed by Yahoo! Search.
Verity also reported revenues for the second quarter $37.6 million, an increase of 30 percent year-over-year.