Microsoft have purchased Stratature, a provider of Master Data Management (MDM) solutions.
Here's some extra info for you:
- Stratature visited a Conchango community day approximately a year ago and it was clear then that their solution was heavily reliant on Microsoft technologies. Their core offering, +EDM, operates on a SQL Server back-end and is built using ASP.Net.
- Microsoft have been looking to enter the MDM arena for some time and former SQL Server stalwarts Kirk Haselden and Roger Wolter are heading up their efforts. You can read Kirk and Roger's opinions on MDM in their whitepaper The What Why and How of Master Data Management.
- Microsoft themselves bought Stratature's +EDM product to service their internal MDM requirements back in February 2007
- Many Stratature customers are already Microsoft customers
Given that information, its not really suprising that this aquisition has happened. Statature seems like a very good fit for Microsoft and I expect to see vertically-focused MDM applications coming out of Microsoft in the not too distant future.
For those that aren't aware of what MDM is, you may want to check our MDM-related blog posts (RSS Feed).
-Jamie
UPDATE: Read what Kirk has to say about it here: http://blogs.msdn.com/knight_reign/archive/2007/06/08/microsoft-completes-stratature-acquisition.aspx