Ventana Blasts HP over BI

Mark Smith of Ventana Research didn't mince words over HP's announcement it will shut down its business intelligence product Neoview, obviously bowing out of the BI software market.

Despite the hot market, growing demand for software and services, and competitors like IBM, Oracle, and SAP aggressively pursuing BI, it appears that HP is a drop-out.

Or are they?  While Mark seems to think HP management is rather clueless about the BI software industry, he also suggests that they might actually stay in the game by acquiring one of the remaining smaller BI vendors--MicroStrategy, Actuate, Information Builders, or QlikTech.

Could it be that HP is tossing out one BI product but intends to buy another?

QlikTech's QlikView is a hot up-and-coming BI product that HP might be able to acquire at a reasonable price (unless they wait too long).  Actuate is a Java-based reporting tool that is probably a better fit for another vendor, such as Oracle.

MicroStrategy and Information Builders have similar server-based web BI architectures and either could be right for HP.  But MicroStrategy is publicly traded while Information Builders is privately held by the same founding owners from the 1970s.  HP and IBI could pair up nicely.

Mark offers his best wishes to HP and told them to call if they have any questions about BI. See the whole story on the Information Management website.