Precisely To Bolster Data Governance With Infogix Buy
May 10, 2021 Alex Woodie
The private equity groups that own Precisely (formerly Syncsort) last week announced a plan to acquire Infogix, a provider of data governance software and related tools designed to boost trust in data. While there is some overlap with Precisely’s current software, particularly in data quality, the company says Infogix’s offerings will bolster its overall data integrity story. For IT Jungle readers, the fact that Infogix has IBM i software may be of interest.
Infogix has a long history in the IT business going back to 1982, when Madhaven Nayar founded the company in Naperville, Illinois as Unitech Systems. For decades, the company successfully developed and sold automated data control software that reconciled financial accounts running across a variety of systems, including IBM mainframes, AS/400 (IBM i), Unix, and Windows. Unitech company targeted Fortune 100 firms, and counted companies like Wells Fargo, Verizon Wireless, and Target among its customers.
In 2005, Unitech company changed its name to Infogix, and in 2012, Infogix announced that the private equity firm H.I.G. Capital had taken a stake. Infogix and H.I.G. acquired analytics software developer Agilis in 2014, and in 2016, H.I.G. sold Infogix to another private equity firm, Thoma Bravo.
Under Thoma Bravo ownership, Infogix set off on a small buying spree. In 2017, it bought Data Clairvoyance Group, a data strategy consulting group, and DATUM, which developed a data governance offering called Data360. In 2018, Infogix snapped up Lavastorm, the analytics software developer that emerged out of Martin Dawes Systems, a provider of an IBM i-based customer care and billing system. Lavastorm’s software continues as Data360 Analyze.
Last week, Clearlake Capital Group and TA Associates, the private equity firms behind Precisely, announced a definitive agreement to buy Infogix from Thoma Bravo. Terms of the deal were not disclosed, as is typical in transactions like this involving private companies.
The Data360 suite, an array of tools, composed of the offerings of companies that Infogix acquired, is the big get for Precisely. The suite helps companies manage disparate data and includes a data catalog, a data governance solution, data quality tools, and the Data360 Analyze offering mentioned above. The company also continues to sell its Data360 Business Glossary Edition, as well as its Advanced Controls solution, which is based on the original Unitech Systems software.
Precisely will continue to sell the Infogix software as is for now, but eventually plans to re-architected them to be part of its Data Integrity Suite, a spokesperson tells IT Jungle. More information on that will be provided at the company’s upcoming virtual conference, called the Trust 21 Data Integrity Summit, which it announced last week.
“As companies seek to position and differentiate themselves for the digital era, they quickly realize that success requires trusted data. Precisely provides that foundation with maximum accuracy, consistency and context so businesses can make confident data-driven decisions,” said Precisely CEO Josh Rogers in a press release. “Infogix is a perfect fit for Precisely, with highly complementary data quality products and services, and a leading data governance solution that our customers have been seeking.”
Both Precisely and Infogix have a history of developing products for IBM i and mainframe systems, and that will continue going forward, the Precisely spokesperson said.
“With the Precisely Data Integrity Suite, organizations that rely on IBM i systems can integrate that data into cloud data platforms and validate, standardize, enrich, and analyze it for data-driven insights,” the spokesperson said. “The addition of Infogix’s strong data governance, data catalog, and strategic data services capabilities gives Precisely’s IBM i customers access to even more data integrity capabilities.”
Clearlake Capital and TA Associates announced the deal with Thoma Bravo for Infogix about two weeks after they finalized their joint purchase of Precisely from Centerbridge Partners. Thoma Bravo, of course, is the private equity firm that originally sold Vision Solutions to Clearlake back in 2016. One year later, Clearlake sold its controlling interest in Vision and Syncsort (which it acquired in 2015) to Centerbridge, which promptly merged the two companies under the Syncsort banner.
After Syncsort (or really Centerbridge) acquired Pitney Bowes location data and software business in 2019, it changed its name to Precisely in 2020. In March, Centerbridge sold its majority stake back to Clearlake (along TA Associates) in a deal that valued Precisely at $3.5 billion.
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