Verity snaps up e-forms specialist

Barely had the ink dried on Verity's acquisition of Cardiff Software last month when Open Text and Hummingbird announced they were looking to acquire further companies to widen their information management reach.

Verity's acquisition of Cardiff signals an impetus on the part of the search engine specialist to extend its abilities into information capture and management.

Cardiff Software, which produces e-forms and data capture software, will cost Verity $50m (£27m).

Originally starting out in the enterprise search sector Verity has, in the past two years, positioned itself as a portal vendor, but is now returning to its search roots.

"We are looking to extend well beyond search," said Simon Atkinson, Verity UK managing director. "We no longer want to be seen as just a portal vendor."

The Verity deal adds to a long list of recent consolidation moves, where content management vendors are seeking to establish a wider range of offerings.

"Corporations are making strategic decisions on content management that are as important as the database decisions they made when choosing Oracle or IBM," said David Gingell, Documentum's VP of marketing.

"Companies need electronic records management and document management to comply with a growing list of legal and regulatory requirements such as the Sabanes-Oxley Act and Basel II, a critical priority for enterprises in 2004," said Mark Gilbert in a report for analysts Gartner Group on Vignette's acquisition of Tower Technology.

Analysts believe that further consolidation will take place.

Recent reports have also indicated that vendors Hummingbird and Open Text are planning to make further acquisitions.

Hummingbird chief executive Fred Sorkin told a Canadian paper: "We will acquire during this year."

And Open Text CEO Tom Jenkins told analysts and reporters during a conference call that "quite a few companies have approached us".

The vendors all believe the consolidation is good news for information professionals.

"By standardising on a platform, you can focus your efforts on the business," said Campbell Grant, founder of UK CM vendor SiteKit.

Documentum's Gingell agreed. "Companies want to buy from fewer suppliers or a single source," he said.