Quest IdM catch-up move?

Just saw an article over on Network World that Quest Software just bought ActiveEntry from Volcker Informatik AG. From a brief skim of the website, ActiveEntry looks like a heavily MS centric provisioning / workflow system – which sounds quite similar to Quest’s existing Active Roles server product. I haven’t had the chance to play with either technology, but I’ve come across a few companies in Australia running Active Roles server. I imagine Volcker is more active in Germany and Europe, hence a lower profile in Aus.

Dave Kearns’ original article on Network World also mentions they’re a player in the Gartner Magic Quadrant – in the visionaries quadrant which is quite good. I double checked the 2010 user provisioning quadrant thanks to Oracle here. Some of the comments on Volcker to save you a search were:

In the Visionaries quadrant, Volcker Informatik demonstrated noticeable improvement, partly due to:

• Significant innovation in its vision and approach to provisioning
• Improved servicing of its clients (predeployment and post-deployment)
• Its expanded partner base and expanded reach outside Germany

and

German-based company Volcker Informatik has made notable movement in the area of completeness of vision. It consistently provides a combination of innovative architectures and features, as well as a high-touch customer model, to deliver in a number of quality, low-maintenance solutions.

Given the overlap between the products, I’ll be keen to see if / how they’re integrated. On my superficial read of both product sites (emphasis on superficial) I’d say ActiveEntry provides ActiveRoles a shot in the arm for connectors, SPML capability and a virtual directory. There doesn’t seem to be anything around identity analytics.

Regardless, its good to see some investment in the identity space.