I am sitting in the general session of the last day of Software AG’s Integration World (previously webMethods Integration World, but Software AG and webMethods merged over the last year).  This was a key event for me, as it was important to understand what the new organization would mean for GXS and our customers (several of whom are attending).

Overwhelmingly the news is good.  Software AG’s CEO, Karl-Heinz Streibich, seemed to be everywhere at the conference, speaking with partners, customers and analysts.  His message was consistent:

  1. Software AG and webMethods have complementary products, and the webMethods software will be stronger because of incremental resources from Software AG, as well as strong additional capabilities such as CentraSite
  2. The combination of the companies has gone well, and because of Software AG’s unique ownership (30% is owned by a social foundation in Germany), it is insulated from a hostile takeover

The majority of the business discussion was about the track record of Software AG for growth, and its 10 year plan (commenced in 2003) to become the largest independent vendor of Business Infrastructure Software in the world (second overall to IBM). 

Okay, but this is the story after every acquisition right?  I mean, nobody would say it was all chaos and insanity… so how do you judge?  Well, time will tell, but I see three leading indicators that have reaffirmed our continuing strategic relationship with Software AG webMethods:

  1. Leadership continuity:  the man heading up the webMethods division of Software AG, David Mitchell, was the CEO of webMethods prior to the merger.  He has always been a good partner in our joint effort to drive the hybrid model of e-commerce (making installed software more valuable by combining it with strategic use of managed services).  But it goes beyond the top guy, the key people in product development — in both product management and engineering — have taken major roles in the new organization, and continue to guide the “bedrock” products.
  2. Ever increasing deployments:  I have been attending these shows for 4 years now, so I’ve had the chance to meet customers and see them gradually expanding the footprint of the software throughout their organization.  As we swap tips and tricks and compare scalability, it is evident that the footprints are growing
  3. The products themselves, especially webMethods 7.1.  This is an exciting product that involves major new JMS features, improved scalability, and the adoption of Eclipse as a platform for tooling.

Each year we invest 10s of millions of dollars in research and development, but our customers expect that we will leverage partnerships to get more done faster.  Based on everything I am seeing and experiencing so far, the larger, stronger Software AG will be that kind of partner.