Software AG acquires intelligence firm JackBe, launches real-time analytics platform

Germany's Software AG has acquired the US-based intelligence and analytics firm JackBe, and has launched a real-time analytics platform based on the company's offerings.

JackBe, which was founded in 2001 and has its corporate office in Chevy Chase, Maryland, as well as operations in Silicon Valley and Mexico City, "mashes and visualizes data into live dashboards for desktop, mobile, portals and SharePoint", according to the company's website.

Its flagship product, Presto, takes data from a variety of sources including Excel spreadsheets, data warehouses, and social media platforms, combines it, and then visualises it in real-time. Customers who currently use the product include Qualcomm, Accenture, as well as a range of government agencies and utility companies.

With the acquisition, announced on Thursday, Software AG will roll-out its own real-time analytics platform called webMethods Intelligence Business Operations Platform (IBO), which "uses JackBe's mashup, analytic and visualisation capabilities", and "will provide the real-time intelligence that executives and operational managers need to make immediate, informed decisions and identify changes that impact the business", according to Software AG.

The webMethods Intelligence Business Operations Platform will be available for early access customers beginning in the fourth quarter of this year. In addition, the Presto platform will continue to be offered as a standalone product, and will also be integrated into existing Software AG products.

The acquisition represents a continued push into big-data analytics for Software AG. In June, the enterprise software company bought Apama, a complex-event processing platform Apama, from Progress Software.

Neither Software AG nor JackBe has disclosed the value of the deal. More details on Software AG's new IBO platform will be disclosed at the company's annual customer event, which will be held in San Francisco in October.