Via a series of acquisitions and mergers, Syncsort is in the process of transforming itself from being a provider of extract, transform and load (ETL) tools employed primarily on mainframes to being a provider of data management software spanning multiple platforms.
David Hodgson, chief product officer for Syncsort, says the recent acquisition of Metron Technology, a provider of capacity management tools, is only the latest in a series of acquisitions that are being enabled by investors that previously drove the merger of Syncsort and Vision Solutions, a provider of data protection software. Prior to that merger, Syncsort had acquired Trillium Software, a provider of data quality tools.
Hodgson says Syncsort will continue to expand its portfolio in pursuit of tools that will lower the total cost of IT with an eye toward freeing up funds for new projects.
“No one we know of is actually increasing the total size of the IT budget,” says Hodgson.
Over the years, Hodgson also notes that not many IT organizations have been especially diligent about managing their data more effectively. As a result, Hodgson says, there’s now a need for tools that enable organizations to lower their costs by employing tools that make IT more efficient while also ensuring the quality and integrity of the data being accessed. Hodgson says IT organizations should expect to see Syncsort continuing to acquire companies in line with that mission as well as partnering with other IT vendors. Syncsort has signed an agreement with ASG Technologies under which ASG Data Intelligence data governance and compliance tools will be integrated with Syncsort’s Trillium data quality tools.
It’s not clear to what degree IT organizations are focused on improving data management. There’s clearly a lot of economic and regulatory pressure to improve. At the same time, however, there’s also a lot of internal inertia that conspires against the best of all data management intentions. The real issue isn’t so much the tools available, but rather a lack of well-defined processes. Of course, it’s hard to put processes in place without the right tools, which is why data management continues to be one of those chicken and the egg challenges that confounds IT organizations everywhere.
