HP’s Autonomy Acquisition Creating Opportunities for Others?

Migrated from eDJGroupInc.com. Author: Barry Murphy. Published: 2011-09-13 09:56:29  In scanning through eDJ’s syndication feed this morning, I came across an article about ProofPoint selecting ISYS’s document filters for extraction of unstructured content in ProofPoint’s email security, eDiscovery and compliance solutions.  At first glance, this news seems to be of the “no big deal” variety.  However, with the added context of two other nuggets of market news, this story may be an indicator of shifts in the market.  One of the other nuggets is a big one – HP’s planned acquisition of Autonomy; the other nugget is a small one and came through the rumor mill – that some of the early executives from the INSO document filters company (later acquired by Stellent, in turn acquired by Oracle) have joined ISYS.The document filter market is dominated by Oracle and Autonomy (which offers the KeyView Filters).  While there are some open source alternatives on the market, we’ve not seen a vendor do a targeted push into this market.  ISYS just might be coming along at the right time, and doing so with executives that have a record of success in the market.  Would it be possible that the market will look for alternatives in the wake of an HP acquisition of Autonomy?  Yes, it’s entirely possible.  Is it possible that there is a threat to Autonomy’s IDOL OEM business, of which KeyView is a major component?  Yes, and this could renew calls for further transparency about the revenue breakout of that OEM business.  If I were an HP investor, I’d certainly want to know.  I’d also want to know if ProofPoint was previously using KeyView before switching to ISYS (which I believe is the case, but have yet to confirm).As you may know, we are involved in a deeper analysis of the HP / Autonomy merger and a big issue there is the OEM business.  Because of the way its growth has been reported it has become a highly-valued asset.  If ProofPoint is an outlier and an isolated incident, this news may not be a big deal.  But, if this story marks the start of a trend, HP shareholders may start sweating.  What do you think?  Email me – barry@edjgroupinc.com – and let me know.