Microsoft buys DATAllegro in high-end enterprise quest
In an ongoing quest to push its SQL Server database further into the high-end enterprise space, Microsoft on Thursday unveiled plans to purchase DATAllegro, a maker of business intelligence (BI)-enabled data warehouse appliances.
"DATAllegro provides a very, very high-capability scale-out data warehouse that we will move onto the SQL Server platform and Windows platform. And with this we will have a scale-out data warehouse that will scale into the hundreds of terabytes in size, and be able to compete for the highest-end enterprise data warehousing solutions. We've never been able to do that before," contended Bob Muglia, senior VP of Microsoft's Server and Tools, in a talk during Microsoft's Finacial Analysts Day on Thursday.
"The solution with DATAllegro will scale well beyond what Oracle can do today. So having a solution set like this in the marketplace is proof of our commitment to provide the highest-capacity, highest-capability solutions to the enterprise, and once again to do so at a very cost-competitive price. So we had this announcement today. It's something we're quite excited about."
With a similar market for SQL Server in mind, Microsoft last week announced plans to buy data quality vendor Zoomix.
Along with technology for mining large amounts of data, the DATAllegro acquisition is expected to provide Microsoft with new customers in the areas of manufacturing, retail, and telecommunications.
As previously reported in BetaNews, an earlier acquisition of BI software tools maker Cognos by Microsoft competitor IBM has provided IBM with substantial amounts of new revenues and customers, too. Cognos' tools support IBM's UDB database, in addition to other major databases.
James Kobielus, a senior analyst at Forrester Research, predicted in a blog posting this week that Microsoft's buyout of DATAllegro now "sets the stage" for companies such as Oracle, SAP and HP to acquire DATAllegro's competitors, which include Dataupia, Netezza, and Greenplus.
Yet until now, at least, DATAllego has specialized in server applications that come pre-installed with a large-scale edition of Ingres, another IBM-owned database.
"Clearly, the migration to SQL Server may alienate a substantial portion of DATAllegro's existing customer base," Kobelielus wrote.
The analyst also cited bright sides to the deal, noting that Microsoft will provide sales, marketing, and support services, which "DATAllegro has most critically lacked."