Actian is on a buying spree. The big data management company announced today the acquisition of ParAccel, the data analytics company that has $64 million in funding from Amazon and other investors. Earlier this month, Actian acquired Pervasive Software, a data integration company based in Austin.
Actian provides data integration and a a data analytics database called Vectorwise with a particular emphasis on Hadoop. Its Hadoop connectors hook into Hadoop, pull out relevant data in real time and integrate it accordingly. ParAccel also has a data analytics database.
ParAccel has made a mark with its analytics database. It is used by Amazon Redshift, the service that acts as a data warehouse in the cloud. ParAccel, as of December, has more than 60 customers.
Actian CTO Mike Hoskins said the company is profitable, giving it an opportunity to build a big data portfolio. “When you look at our combined capabilities, including Versant, Pervasive and now ParAccel, we have global reach in many fast-growing markets and annualized revenues north of $150 million,” said Hoskins in an email interview. Hoskins had before served as CTO at Pervasive.
The “Internet of Things,” with its volumes of data, both traditional and machine-generated, are growing exponentially, Hoskins said. Companies that can gain insights with data, across multiple sources, have a significant advantage. With the combined companies, Actian can scale a company’s data across commodity hardware, capturing data from different directions and running analytics on that data.
Actian’s acquisitions show how data integration and analytics represent a potent combination. The question is can Actian actually integrate the technologies to become a top data analytics vendor.