Now the Minnows are Eating the Minnows
M. Reed - October 19, 2000

Event Summary

In a transaction valued at approximately $15 million, small by most standards in the software industry, DataMirror Corporation (TSE: DMC) has completed the acquisition of assets and assumption of certain liabilities of Constellar Corporation. Both companies have been small niche players in the data warehousing market, Constellar being almost exclusively Oracle-based, and DataMirror concentrating on the IBM AS/400. Up to now, they have stayed out of the gun sights of the big boys because of the very vertical niche each has chosen. DataMirror has always been the fastest movement tool on the AS/400 because it was written in the machine's native language (using RPG), but it was very AS/400-centric. Constellar has not been an attractive take-over target due to its absolute requirement for an Oracle database. The product can move data between other platforms, but its backend repository has had to be Oracle. Customers know that a DBA will be required to maintain this database, and if they don't have one in-house, this can be an expensive proposition. The two company's goals appear to be increased access to capital for Constellar, and a foothold in the Oracle market for DataMirror...