Tibco's Information Builders acquisition 'most significant one and the largest in our recent history' says CEO Dan Streetman

The coming together of two long-established enterprise data management firms will bring broad new capabilities to bear on Tibco's core areas of focus.

Tibco, the venerable enterprise data management and middleware firm, is to acquire Information Builders, the New-York-based business intelligence company.

Information Builders, known as ibi, produces data solutions that include integration, quality and management tools, and analytics software encompassing visualisation, reporting and AI-enhanced analytics and data science tools. It specialises in the healthcare, financial services, public sector, manufacturing, transportation and logistics, and retail industries. The company, which dates back to 1975, is privately owned and operates 60 offices around the world.

Rumours that ibi was on the lookout for a buyer have been circulating for some time, with Goldman Sachs Private Capital, a minority stakeholder known to be working with Boston-based investment bank Shea & Co., which specialises in software mergers and acquisitions.

Back in March ibi was thought to be looking for around $500 million, whereas reports today put the number at closer to $1 billion. Tibco CEO Dan Streetman would not be drawn on the figure, telling Computing both valuations were "not well-informed", and adding: "it cleared somewhere in between there, but we can't comment on any specifics."

Nevertheless, the deal will be one of the largest undertaken by Tibco, which is looking to boost its presence in the area of enterprise data management through the application of embedded intelligence and broader industry expertise.

"It's certainly our most significant one and our largest in recent history, and it really is bringing additional broad capabilities to bear on our core focus areas, connect, unify and predict," Streetman said.

Tibco plans to use ibi's software to enhance its Any Data Hub data management ‘blueprint', Responsive Application Mesh architecture modernisation platform, and Hyperconverged Analytics, its real-time data science and visualisation offering. The acquired company's product lines will be merged into the Tibco portfolio. As for ibi personnel, Streetman said Tibco is "looking to retain much of their management and their leadership talent, as well as a lot of their IP talent," although he said there would inevitably be redundancies as the two companies, which have a fair bit in common, come together.

Of particular value to Tibco will be ibi's expertise in data quality and data preparation "the things you want to do in a faster and faster timeline, particularly as you look at moving into this area we call Any Data Hub, the ability to access data anywhere it is at any time."

Other obvious synergies exist in Hyperconverged Analytics, Streetman said, and ibi will bring expertise in industries such as healthcare, which have not been an area of particular focus for Tibco up to now but which should fit well with its pharmaceuticals channel.

Asked what the acquisition will mean for previous Tibco buys, such as the BI and visualisation tool Spotfire, Streetman said it will add capabilities rather than displacing existing solutions.

"[Hyperconverged Analytics is] far more than a prebuilt dashboard. Analytics has to go all the way into data being accessed at any time, so the streaming aspects of it, and then how to leverage AI/ML, so we see WebFOCUS [ibi's information retrieval too] as an extension of the things we can do with Spotfire."

In a statement ibi CEO Frank J. Vellain said: "Bigger data challenges create the need for more robust data solutions. Joining Tibco will help our customers, who understand the impact of having strategic, data-driven solutions, accelerate their response to their most pressing data opportunities."

The deal remains subject to customary conditions and certain regulatory approvals, but Tibco expects it to close during its first quarter of fiscal year 2021.