Informatica plugs MDM hole with Siperian buy

Informatica has purchased MDM (master data management) vendor Siperian for about US$130 million, strengthening its hand against larger rivals such as IBM and Oracle.

The acquisition, which Informatica announced Thursday, fills a hole in the company's lineup of data integration and data quality tools.

Master data refers to entities such as products or customers that are common across multiple applications. MDM software helps companies ensure this information is consistent and accurate.

An analyst offered high praise for Siperian's technology.

"They have some of the best data acquisition, data cleansing, relationship and hierarchy management, event management, reference data management, data stewardship, and architecture," said Ray Wang, partner with Altimeter Group, via e-mail. Usability and a rich graphical interface are other strong points, he added.

Half of Siperian's customers use the software to track product and customer master data, according to Wang. Siperian also has strong ties with systems integrators, which are key to making MDM projects successful.

The two companies were already partners and share many customers. "All in all, there will be some big synergies for Informatica," Wang said.

IBM will likely respond by acquiring Siperian's rival, Initiate Systems, in the next few weeks, Wang said.

An IBM representative reached for comment said that the company does not respond to rumors or speculation.

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