SAP Buys Risk-Management Vendor Virsa Systems

SAP AG said Monday it will acquire privately-held Virsa Systems Inc. for an undisclosed all-cash sum to strengthen its position in corporate compliance and risk management software.

The acquisition expands on SAP's strategy to expand offerings by buying-up niche companies.

Virsa has been the "poster child for partner integration using the SAP NetWeaver technology stack," according to AMR Research Inc. Its products have been sold to more than 300 customers, with half delivered through the SAP channel.

Though Virsa addresses security concerns highlighted by Sarbanes-Oxley Act compliance, the product fundamentally span a broader set of ongoing access- and process-monitoring requirements stipulated by Sarbanes-Oxley and other compliance mandates based in process coordination, the AMR said.

SAP and Virsa have worked together through the past year on development, marketing and sales agreements. Compliance Calibrator, Virsa's core product, has been resold as an add-on to mySAP ERP, the enterprise software suite.

SAP also deployed Virsa's Compliance Calibrator and Access Enforcer to more than 40,000 users worldwide. Virsa is also a third-party developer for SAP's NetWeaver, which is middleware designed to connect SAP data to other applications.