Microsoft Buys Analytics Firm ProClarity To Boost BI Product Line

Microsoft scooped up one of its longtime partners on Monday, announcing a deal to buy analytics software maker ProClarity for an undisclosed sum. ProClarity, a Microsoft Gold ISV partner based in Boise, Idaho, sells business intelligence tools that run atop Microsoft infrastructure software such as SQL Server 2005.

Microsoft and ProClarity already have 1,200 joint customers and sales teams that are used to collaborating. Plans for how ProClarity's technology will be integrated with Microsoft's are still being worked out, but the expectation is that Microsoft's partner channel will ultimately be able to sell software from ProClarity's Analytics 6 suite alongside other Microsoft products, according to Alex Payne, a product manager with Microsoft's Office business applications groups.

"The existing ProClarity products should continue on for some time," Payne said, while adding the caveat that concrete product plans won't be made until after the acquisition deal closes.

"As we go into the next generation of technology, you'll start to see the functionality that we've acquired moving into other Microsoft business intelligence product offerings," he said.

Microsoft considers its business-intelligence platform to comprise technologies from various of its product lines, including SQL Server 2005, SharePoint Portal Server and Microsoft Office's Excel and Business Scorecard Manager 2005. ProClarity's software includes visualization, reporting, dashboard, scorecard and other add-on analytics functionality for an assortment of Microsoft BI products.

ProClarity has a staff of 140, most of whom Microsoft expects to join Redmond, Wash.-based software maker after the acquisition. Pending regulatory review, Microsoft expects the deal to close in early May. More detailed product road maps and channel plans will be available shortly after the close, Payne said.