IBM Tivoli Buys TrellisSoft, Enters SRM MArket

Big Blue acquired Glen Ellyn, Ill.-based TrellisSoft, along with its 30 employees and product family called StorageAlert, which focuses on monitoring and generating reports on companies' storage resources.

The deal was completed Thursday, said Robert LeBlanc, general manager of IBM Tivoli. TrelliSoft, founded in September 1999, and its 30 employees now become part of the IBM fold. At least half of TrelliSoft's employees are engineers. Their seven products--which all fall under the StorageAlert umbrella--are now available through IBM. In the fall, Tivoli expects to announce a second set of products with more integration between the two.

Tivoli executives justified this acquisition because the SRM space has been identified as the fastest-growing subsection of storage. Therefore, there is a significant market opportunity in this space. For instance, the Hurwitz Group anticipates this space to experience a 30 percent compound growth rate through 2005. And Giga Research said SRM will go from a $1 billion market in 2000 to a $5 billion market in 2005.

"This is one area [customers are spending money on," said LeBlanc, who identified TrelliSoft as a "good buy." "There are many good opportunities to acquire technology at a fair value. You don't have the overstated value of the past."