IBM’s SPSS Buy Threatens Oracle, SAP And SAS

He and other SAS officials expect that demand to grow, enough that the company three years ago — in conjunction with North Carolina State University — started a graduate degree program in data analytics.

Concerning IBM’s acquisition of SPSS, Davis said it made sense for both Big Blue and SPSS. However, given that IBM already had a reseller and OEM relationship with SPSS, it didn’t really add anything to IBM’s arsenal.

Yes – but what will IBM actually do with SPSS?

Sageza Group’s Ryder said the move was important to IBM, but that the real test would be what IBM does with the SPSS technology over the next couple of years.

Others agreed. Forrester’s Kobielus said he expects IBM to build out the brand and phase out its own Intelligent Miner technology, which has become part of its InfoSphere portfolio. IBM officials also need to figure out what to do with its OmniFind solutions, which offer some similar functions as SPSS’ tools.

IBM also needs to figure out how SPSS technology will fit in with its InfoSphere Balanced Warehouse database analytics offerings.

What also needs to be determined is how IBM’s rivals will respond. Analysts said they expect more similar acquisitions as players like Oracle and — more likely — SAP react.

“One can’t help but think that SAP missed the boat by not seizing the opportunity to acquire partner SPSS,” said Kobielus, noting that SAP OEMs SPSS’ Clementine technology.

TM Capital’s LeBlanc agreed: “SAP has been less aggressive in this area and will be forced to consider acquisitions of smaller vendors in the space, such as Angoss, Kxen, Portrait Software or ThinkAnalytics,” he said.

In a prepared statement, SAP officials said that the partnership between SAP and SPSS has been a good one, and that they didn’t expect that to change under IBM’s ownership. SAP will continue to partner with IBM, they said.

They also said that SAP offers predictive analytics capabilities through their BusinessObjects offerings, and that they plan to enhance those capabilities in the future.

Senior Editor Darryl K. Taft contributed to this article.