Having acquired four companies in the past year, synchronization software company Pumatech Inc. is done with its shopping spree and ready to integrate.
Pumatech, of San Jose, Calif., last week announced plans to buy competitor Synchrologic Inc. for $60 million. Officials said Pumatech will immediately begin porting its enterprise customers from the Pumatech Enterprise Intellisync platform to Synchrologics Mobile Suite platform, which will become Pumatechs primary server-based synchronization product for corporate users. Synchrologics platform provides access to enterprise applications from wireless devices and includes management tools for IT staff.
“Synchrologic will become our enterprise core competency,” said Woody Hobbs, CEO of Pumatech.
Due to close by years end, the Synchrologic purchase follows other acquisitions by Pumatech this year. Since March, Pumatech has announced the acquisitions of Motorola Inc. subsidiary Starfish Software Inc., cell phone software company Loudfire Inc. and VPN company Spontaneous Technology Inc. Now Pumatech is ready to announce products.
Using technology acquired from Loudfire, Pumatech Oct. 1 will debut Intellisync GoAnywhere, which provides remote access to enterprise applications from Web browsers, Hobbs said.
Verizon Wireless Inc. is using the VPN technology from Spontaneous Technology to offer over-the-air synchronization to its corporate customers, and Pumatech plans to introduce a retail version, Intellisync Wireless, in several months, Hobbs said.
Pumatech officials said the acquisition of Synchrologic resolves its previous lawsuit against Synchrologic. Pumatech is still pursuing intellectual property legal action against Extended Systems Inc., which, after two years of industry consolidation, remains its chief competitor.
But customers are hopeful that Pumatechs acquisition spree and industry consolidation in general will mean better synchronization products.
“Good tools are desperately needed for all of the devices coming down the pike that will require synchronization,” said Erich Berman, an advanced technical consultant in the IS department at Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co., in Milwaukee, and an eWEEK Corporate Partner. “The lack of good sync tools is holding back the widespread use of cell phones as mini-PDAs because the software available for synchronization is usually mediocre or outright bad and is not standardized across platforms.”