Stellent Brings Optika Into Fold

Stellent Inc.s move to buy Optika Inc., a fellow developer of content management software, gives it more pieces of the enterprise content management technology stack.

The deal, which was announced last week and valued at close to $60 million, brings imaging and business process content management technologies to Stellent, which has specialized in Web content management and collaboration, Stellent officials said.

Stellent, of Eden Prairie, Minn., plans to integrate Optikas Acorde product line with its Universal Content Management Architecture. This will boost Stellents support for managing content related to specific business processes such as accounts payable, claims processing and expense reporting.

Anatomy of a Deal Resource Library: Stellent acquiring Optika Price About $60 million in cash and stock Road map Stellent to integrate Optikas Acorde product line with its Universal Content Management Architecture Payoff Will boost Stellents ability to manage content related to business processes such as accounts payable, claims processing and expense reporting

Optika, based in Colorado Springs, Colo., is particularly strong in the retail, distribution, architecture/engineering/construction and higher-education verticals, according to Stellent officials. The companies product lines will initially be integrated via Web services but will eventually share the same content repository, Stellent officials said. The integration process will last through fiscal 2005 and be completed in stages.

The companies do have crossover in records management technology. Stellent has not yet decided whether to standardize on one records management product or continue to support both, officials said.

Emerson Electric Co.s Emerson Process Management division uses Stellents software for Web content management and document management. Optika could add new imaging and business process workflow management, according to Mark Heindselman, manager of knowledge network and information services. "We could have business workflows that arent tied to documents," said Heindselman, in Marshalltown, Iowa. "The workflows could trigger other capabilities or functions, like a transaction set that could generate content."

Several enterprise content management software vendors have been on the hunt. IBM, Open Text Corp., Interwoven Inc., FileNet Corp. and Documentum Inc. have been active on the acquisition trail in the past year. Documentum itself was acquired last month by EMC Corp.

For its part, Stellent also bought digital asset management software developer Ancept Inc. in August.

Stellents Optika deal is due to close in April.