Putting the Gears to Software AG and Terracotta

Next week TheServerSide has been given the opportunity to attend ProcessWorld 2011, gaining access to some of the top brass at Software AG, along with some of the newly acquired brass from Terracotta, which was recently gobbled up by Software AG.

I have a few questions of my own I'm interested at throwing at my good friends from Terracotta. There was plenty of talk around TSS about the acquisition price that was paid for Terracotta, and I'm interested in how they'll address the assertion that was heard around these parts that the deal was a 'sub-par' exit for investors.

Open Source and  Software AG

Furthermore, Software AG doesn't have a storied reputation with regards to open source software. They tend to be one of those big companies that is more interested in making money than giving things away for free. So, we'll be pressing on how the Software AG culture jives with the people who brought us BigMemory and the purported end to garbage collection woes.

Does Size Stiffle Innovation?

One of the other fears I have with regards to this particular space in the industry, which seems to be experiencing a certain degree of consolidation as of late, is how this consolidation will affect innovation. It seems to me that this space has seen some great advancements as of late, be it from Teracotta, GemStone, GigaSpaces, GridGain and dare I say it, even Coherence. But with GemStone being gobbled up by VMWare, Terracotta being absorbed by Software AG, and further buy-ups surely to come, will we be seeing an end to the relatively small player that can adapt quickly and innovate at the drop of a hat?

Any Questions from the TSS Readership?

Anyways, those are a few of the points I'd like to get cleared up, but I'd also be interested in knowing what the TSS community is thinking about the topic, and for that matter, if there were any questions TheServerSide readership might be interested in having addressed by Software AG or about Process Management in general.

I'd love to hear any thoughts on the topic.

Oh, and if you'd like to email me any ideas, just in case you don't want to post publicly on the topic, I can be found at:
cmckenzie aht techtarget dawt calm

dare I say it, even Coherence.

I'm not sure how to take that ..

Peace,

Cameron Purdy | Oracle Coherence

http://coherence.oracle.com/

Heh, maybe he's following a rule of advertising, albeit from a neutral source: he's mentioning the elephant in that particular room. I was more interested in the lack of mention of open source projects like OSCache and EhCache, with EhCache certainly still trying to add new features all the time.

Coherence has a lot to like, as do most of the projects in the distributed space. I'm obviously biased in favor of one particular choice out of those, but that's doesn't mean that the others need to be put down. I'm glad to see Coherence, et al, still innovating.

The reference certainly is not to be taken as being derogatory at all.

Small players in the market seem to move and innovate rather quickly, which is something we don't typically expect to see from the Oracles and IBMs. So, daring to inclue Oracle and Coherence in with the smaller players is more of a reference to the fact that Coherence is doing well at being an agile player in this space.

By the way, I got a few emails from the TSS faithful on the topic. Thanks for the insight!