Acquisition Enhances B2B E-Commerce

TIBCO Software has agreed to acquire Extensibility in a stock transaction valued at approximately $100 million. TIBCO’s products enable real-time distribution of information through patented technology called The Information Bus. Extensibility software is used to design and process XML schemas, computer vocabularies that enable e-businesses to create and exchange complex digital documents and validate electronic commerce transactions. Combining TIBCO’s current XML and schema management capabilities with Extensibility’s technologies will let customers create entirely new types of software applications to more quickly and easily conduct business over the Internet. In addition to incorporating Extensibility’s technologies into its own products, TIBCO will continue to market and enhance standalone Extensibility products. Current Extensibility customers and partners include Microsoft, Commerce One, Oracle, Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, Software AG, Fidelity Investments, SmithKline Beecham, MetLife, and WebMethods. Several TIBCO products are supported on SQL Server. “The TIBCO and Extensibility combination is powerful,” says Reid Conrad, Extensibility president and CEO. “Together, we allow the next evolutionary step of XML, enabling companies to build more robust e-businesses that operate in real-time.”