Update: Promoted from comment to Frank’s one-liner.

Big news indeed, and in fact IBM’s fourth largest acquisition of any kind – ever – according to the AP. One of the more compelling takeaways from the analyst conference call is the effect on the market’s ability to deliver cohesive vertical and horizontal solutions in the ECM-BPM intersection. (blog archive)

FileNet and IBM reps repeatedly stressed their ability to “provide content-centric BPM in the context of business processes.” Not hard to envision. FileNet’s historical investment in its BPM modules is a large part of its competitive differentiation. On equal par from a SOA/BPEL-driven perspective, IBM’s v6 Websphere BPM products provide the STP/integration capabilities for the sibling requirements. The opportunity for a technology merge is intriguing. Fully preparing for the intersection is clearly a primary goal; as per the call, “the timing is good for a combination of forces.” I wouldn’t call it a smooth road however, despite the promises of “nothing but goodness for everyone.”

Although the two former partners and competitors stress the “preservation and enhancement” of both ECM platforms (the ECM divisions will become one), the holy grail of post-acquisition integration (culture, technology & strategy) could be quite significant in this case.

More when I’m not on vacation, but obviously this is big news.

Content Management Professionals emphasizes its role as the international community of practice at its Fall Summit 2006. The Summit, titled “Content Management and the World Enterprise,” takes place on Monday, November 27, and is co-located with Gilbane Boston. The program focuses practices, processes, and technologies for communicating effectively with global audiences. It is designed to enable content managers to have direct, positive impact on enterprise globalization initiatives. See the call for papers if you’d like to present, participate in a panel, or run a workshop or roundtable. Registration is now open, and sponsorship opportunities are available.

The acceptance by Hummingbird’s Board of Directors of the Open Text offer closes the door on this summer saga, albeit with less drama than I predicted.

I do find it surprising that even a ripple of a bidding war never occured since the agreed-upon Open Text bid remains at only 10 cents more per share than the preceeding Symphony offer. Plus, there’s that $11.7 million termination fee payable to Symphony. Still, Hummingbird reports that the offer represents a 4.1 percent higher bid than Symphony and a 20.5 percent premium over the company’s May 25 share price.

Now that the saga is over, the real effects will surface. There is clearly redundancy between the two companies, and that can only mean some amount of layoffs. We would be surprised however, if that prediction extends to the RedDot division, as Open Text fills a hole with this solid WCM solution. In addition, the merger creates a larger competitor to the platform players in the ECM market but also bolsters the “foes can be friends” theory in terms of Open Text’s June decision to provide Oracle-based solutions as well as to continue strong SAP and Microsoft Sharepoint integrations.

Finally, the acquisition forces Open Text to continue proving that numerous acquisitions equal strong, integrated vertical and horizontal solutions while simultaneously pleasing longtime Hummingbird customers.

Industry colleague, consultant, and Content Management Bible author Bob Boiko is teaching an intensive two-day workshop, “Taming the Content Beast: Content Strategy and Modeling for IT Professionals” in Washington DC September 18th and 19th. Bob is an incredible presenter and will keep you engaged while you’re learning. More info.

We have now published tutorial and session descriptions for our Fall conference (November 28-30, 2006 Westin Copley Place, Boston MA) and registration is also now open. Speaker details will be added soon.
Conference track descriptions:

Conference session descriptions:

Pre-conference tutorial descriptions:

Complete conference schedule:

Registration: