Teradata, an enterprise analytics and warehousing company, agreed to acquire Aster Data Systems, an analytics and data management firm, for $263 million on March 3.
The acquisition will enable Teradata clients to store, manage and analyze data found on formats such as Web applications, sensor networks, social networks, video and photographs.
The acquisition process began in September, when Teradata acquired an 11% ownership interest in Aster. Scott Gnau, Teradata’s chief development officer said, however, that Teradata had been looking into Aster for “quite some time before that.”
“We’re always looking at technology, markets and ideas for how to grow our business,” he said. “This emerging data space was important and Aster’s technology was unique.”
Teradata acquired Aprimo in December, allowing the company’s clients to leverage data from Teradata’s warehouse into initiatives designed with Aprimo’s campaign management solutions.
“Although the acquisitions aren’t specifically related, certainly there will be synergy,” said Gnau. “Marketers are actively looking to integrate social data. Plugging Aster’s technology with Aprimo’s allows us to extend the Aprimo suite into social networking analysis.”
Aster will retain its brand, but Gnau said that “Teradata will continue to review and make changes to Teradata’s total brand footprint.”
Asked whether the acquisition will result in layoffs, Gnau said, “I’m not allowed to say anything other than that our strategic intent is to keep as many of the people as possible.”
“This acquisition was not a cost-cutting kind of model,” he said. “We’re investing in Aster’s intellectual property and in its people.”
Dan Conway, director of PR at Teradata, said that the company has not yet decided how Aster’s leadership will fit into Teradata’s management structure.
“We won’t know until we close the deal, but we’re going to try to keep everyone,” he said. Teradata expects the deal to close in the second quarter of this year, he said.
Aster’s clients include Barnes & Noble, Intuit and LinkedIn. The company is based in San Carlos, CA.
