Corporate developers are getting more collaboration capabilities in their development tools, thanks to acquisitions by Serena Software Inc. and CollabNet Inc.
Serena, of San Mateo, Calif., which last week agreed to buy TeamShare Inc. for $18 million, sells change management solutions that automate changes to enterprise code and content. With TeamShare, a Colorado Springs, Colo., developer of collaborative software development solutions, Serena plans to bolster its product line with collaboration technology and extend its reach in application life-cycle management, company officials said.
Serenas acquisition followed by a few weeks CollabNets buyout of Enlite Networks Inc., of Mountain View, Calif. CollabNet is a Brisbane, Calif., provider of collaborative software development solutions; Enlite is an enterprise collaboration technology startup with a facility in Chennai, India.
A variety of software makers are adding collaboration into core components of their offerings, according to Erica Rugullies, an analyst with Giga Information Group Inc., in Cambridge, Mass. However, “many vendors will have to set back their collaboration strategies as Microsoft [Corp.] and IBM provide collaboration tools,” Rugullies said.
Microsoft is moving collaboration capabilities into its Windows operating system with Windows SharePoint Services, expected this year, and IBM is componentizing its collaborative offerings and making them available through the various IBM software brands, Rugullies said. “With these two big vendors coming into the market, its going to be harder and harder for proprietary collaboration tools to flourish,” she said.
