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E-business communication and integration software giant Sterling Commerce announced today it completed the acquisition of TR2, which makes data cleansing and synchronization software.
The acquisition brings Sterling, a subsidiary of telecommunications giant SBC Communications Inc., software that helps with customer product information management—a key area as companies look to better transact with partners and suppliers along the supply chain and better handle new technologies like RFID (radio-frequency identification).
The acquisition of TR2 also bolsters Sterlings position in the retail and consumer packaged goods industries—areas where TR2 has staked a claim with customers like LOreal SA and Ocean Spray Cranberries Inc.—and helps keep Sterling up to par with one of its main competitors, IBM.
On April 6 Big Blue announced the completed acquisition of Trigo Technologies Inc., which is also in the data synchronization business. Trigo makes software that helps companies integrate and centrally manage product information. The software also matches product-related information with a function term—pricing, for example—and then synchronizes that information with internal and external systems.
IBM, of Armonk, N.Y., is integrating the Trigo Product Center software into its WebSphere Business Integration product line.
Sterling, of Columbus, Ohio, has combined its namesake hosted data synchronization software with TR2s to jointly offer data validation, data cleansing and catalog capabilities along with consulting and support services. The company plans to add a services arm around “collaborative integration initiatives,” officials said.
Separately, TR2 Enterprise software—now part of Sterlings product line—helps suppliers link up to UCCnet, which enables electronic business-to-business item registration, synchronization and transactions, according to the organizations Web site.
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