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SAP acquires Syclo; continues enterprise mobility push

SAP acquires Syclo, adding apps, services and employees to its enterprise mobility platform.
Written by Andrew Nusca, Contributor

SAP on Tuesday announced that it would acquire enterprise mobile services firm Syclofor an undisclosed amount of money.

With enterprise mobility in its sights, SAP will use Syclo's application portfolio and global customer base to continue boxing out rivals in the race to satiate business customers that want to allow employees more technological flexibility without giving up security.

"Today's announcement is the next step in delivering a fully-integrated mobile platform and enterprise application portfolio to both Syclo and SAP customers,” Syclo CEO Rich Padula said.

Syclo has 600 customers in 39 countries, predominately in industries such as utilities, oil & gas, life sciences and manufacturing. The company -- an SAP parter before the acquisition, specifically around mobile asset management and field service -- will now integrate its applications with SAP's mobile platform. Syclo apps of interest to SAP include those for enterprise asset management, field services, inventory management and approvals/workflow.

SAP hopes the acquisition will accelerate its push into mobility, including efforts behind mobile asset management and field service solutions on its Unwired Platform. (The company revealed as much earlier this morning when it unveiled its mobile roadmap through 2015.) Mobile devices like smartphones and tablets, of course, are an increasingly large share of IT's device portfolio.

A handful of initial reactions:

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2012.

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