Software AG to Aquire webMethods

Also see http://www.softwareag.com/Corporate/Company/latestnews/20070405_WebMethods_page.asp.

Why?
First Thoughts:

• I think all the 3rd Party ISV Integration Tools are losing market share (new license revenue as well as from existing customer accounts).
• Fortune 2000 companies are moving away from Home Grown Legacy applications to off-the-shelf Enterprise Applications.
• Off-the-shelf Enterprise Applications are promising better integration capabilities, as a result, clientsforesee a reduced need to perform internal integrations using Integration Tools.
• Proliferation of SAP XI and Oracle Fusion bundled with ERP Rollout has reduced size of market for ISV integration tools.
• webMethods' lack of footprint in J2EE space makes it less attractive (say compared against a JBoss, webSphere or webLogic based Integration Tool)
• Its investment in SOA Space (in terms of money spent in acquisitions of about 6 companies in last 4 years) did not pay off very well (compared to pure play SOA companies such as Cape Clear).