Ascential Buys Torrent For $46 Million

Information asset management software maker Ascential Software Corp. has acquired Torrent Systems Inc. for $46 million in cash.

Torrent, of Cambridge, Mass., makes parallel processing infrastructure software for the development and execution of data warehousing, business intelligence and analytical applications.

Combined, the two companies will provide solutions for high-end data integration, officials said, when announcing the acquisition this week.

Ascential, of Westboro, Mass., will continue to incorporate Torrents technology into its own DataStage data integration product line. Likewise, Ascential will integrate the majority of Torrents 60 employees into its operations.

The two companies announced a relationship in March of this year. At that time Ascential began integrating Torrents product line into its DataStage XE product line. That combination offers software that provides data transformation, meta data management and data quality assurance, according to officials.

Ascential plans to come to market immediately with an integrated offering, according to Ascential chairman and CEO Peter Gyenes, who is working fast to capitalize on analysts predictions that the data integration market will grow from $900 million in 2001 to $1.3 billion in 2004.

Currently, Ascential has about 1,800 customers in such verticals as telecommunications, insurance, financial services, healthcare, entertainment and retail. Officials expect that with the purchase of Torrent revenues in the fourth quarter will increase 5 percent to 15 percent.