More big news in the document/content management space as HP announced that it will acquire Exstream Software. The last significant example of the ongoing consolidation in this sector came at the turn of the year with EMC's agreement to acquire Document Sciences.

Matt Josefowicz of Novarica suggests that the acquisition will build meaningfully on HP's very significant print output business. Exstream has carved out a very strong position in high-volume, complex document composition in insurance as well as other areas, and this move clearly strengthens HP's overall position in document creation and output," Matt says. "This is part of HP's general strategy of moving up the value chain in business technology into applications and value-added areas like business intelligence."

HP is taking a different approach than others in the content management field, according to HP's David Murphy, senior vice president, Web services and software business, of the vendor's Imaging and Printing Group. Murphy sees many competitors adopting a strategy of attempting to distribute enterprise content management from a centralized location. HP's strategy, he says, "is not trying to shove it in one place but by focusing on the end product." The only competitors thinking in remotely the same way are client-oriented content players, such as Microsoft and Adobe, who have more of a relationship with the customer at the point of consumption.

In terms of the value of its new acquisition in this regard, Murphy says, "We felt that Exstream brought us a set of connectors and a hardened environment to be able to pull information from ERP and CRM systems and legacy environments, leaving core data where it belongs, and taking advantage of it in some new way."

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