Boredworkers.com

Rumours on the acquisition began circulating a couple of months back. There was heavy speculation yesterday regarding the sale but nothing was yet set in stone. Today, the deal became official when IBM and Vallent Corporation (previously ADC/Watchmark-Metrica) went into a definitive agreement.

Prior to the press release, there were cryptic messages and red flags regarding the acquisition. In particular was the alignment of Vallent’s internal procedures towards that of IBM’s. This included a sudden interest in IBM’s Rational ClearCase source control system and various other tools, as well as the changing and consolidation of company procedures throughout all their product lines.

Today, 28th November 2006 (29th November in Malaysia) was the official announcement date. Closure for the deal should come quickly within the next 60 days. Until the closure goes through, there’s still a slim chance that the deal may fall through. However, the sale is theoretically sealed. That means by mid February, Vallent would have officially become a wholly owned subsidiary of Big Blue. This sets IBM in a strong position to invade the OSS/BSS market and truly present an end-to-end solution, together with their own Tivoli system and MicroMuse which was acquired late last year.

Interesting and exciting times indeed. For both the industry and myself. For me, I am at a crossroads of sorts. Stay with the company and eventually get absorbed into IBM or strike out on my own. IBM is one of those corporations that you grow old and retire with. There are a few options on the table at the moment. I guess the best approach is to take my own advice for working through an acquisition: bunker down and ride it out. We’ll see what happens in the coming weeks and months.