B2B market

IBM keeps acquiring other companies:

• Lombardi being a BPM solution of which some of my colleagues are quite enthusiatic.
• Sterling is more an "old" player in the B2B space with products such as Gentran for B2B communication and ConnectDirect for managed file transfer. But Sterling is also an Integration Service Provider (Garnter) or still call it a Value Added Network? IBM sold its VAN to GXS quite a while ago.
  
• Cast Iron Systems which is a new kid on the block, with a solution specificially targeting cloud integration. Also available as an appliance. And Cast Iron was rumoured to be developing a cloud based integration offering.
  

Funny to see and "old" (Sterling) and brand "new" player (Cast Iron) being acquired in the same timeframe. Of course I'm curious to see what IBM will do with these acquisitions. Will they die in a corner or be successor of the DataPower success story? And how will they explain and position all these technologies at customers?

Authored by: Guy