Adobe has announced plans to acquire Swiss ECM specialist Day Software for $240 million. I covered Day when it was a start-up back in 2002 (see story on page 6), At the time, Day was marketing something called a ContentBus and here’s what we said: “The ContentBus,which is designed to apply a single set of content management controls to the multitude of data and document repositories that presumably exist within large companies. ‘The goal of most ECM vendors is to get their customers to move all their content into a single repository. We offer all the benefits of content integration without the heavy lifting it takes to move the content,’ said Day’s VP of markering. Day boasts of 110 customers worldwide, mostly in Germany and Switzerland. It’s North American customers include the consumer electronics division of Sony and sportscaster Jim Rome’s Web site.”
Day was also high on integrating multiple content repositories through the JSR (Java Specification Request) standards.
Quite frankly, I hadn’t heard much about them until Adobe announced its acquisition, which seems to be for something like 5 times revenue. Day reported revenue of approximately $25 million for its last, which represents 47% growth.
Day has apparently found its niche, as here’s what the Wall Street Journal article has to say:
“Day Software’s products help companies manage the unstructured content–including files containing animation, video, photos or text–that are used to power company websites.
“The software also helps with social media by managing content gathered from external sources, such as customer reviews or blog postings. For example, companies can use the software to trigger a business response to content gathered from Twitter or Facebook.
“Day Software counts General Motors Co., McDonald’s Corp. and Intercontinental Hotels Group as its clients. Within the last quarter, Day Software signed a host of new clients, including BMW AG and Hyatt Hotels Corp., said Day Software Chief Executive Erik Hansen in the interview. The company, which has seen licensing revenue grow at least 70% in each of the past four quarters, has doubled its sales and marketing presence in the U.S. over the past nine months, Hansen added.
