Software AG – Story of One of the Largest Enterprise Software Company in Germany.
Software AG is a German-based enterprise software company founded in 1969. The company was founded by six young enthusiastic employees of a consulting firm called AIV. The headquarters of the company is based in Darmstadt, Germany. Software AG has more than 10,000 enterprise customers spread across 70 countries. In India, the company has offices in Mumbai, Bangalore, Chennai, and Hyderabad. The strongest and broadest market of the company is in Europe with several subsidiaries and offices.
The main products of the company are digital transformation and internet of things software, integration and API management, and business analytics. Around 50 percent of the total Fortune 500 companies use the software of this company. Software AG is listed on the Frankfurt Stock Exchange and is the seventh-largest software company in Europe.
Origin of Software AG
In 1969, six employers of AIV decided to establish Software AG and help other enterprises with their business management by harnessing the power of tech. One of the team members was the famous mathematician Peter Schnell who later became the Chairman of the board. After two years, the first product of the company, ADABAS was launched. This product was a very high functional database management system (DBMS). Peter Page was also one of the co-founders of the company that launched Natural in 1979.
After the first product of the company rolled out in the market, the company started opening other offices in different regions. This includes North America in 1971 followed by Japan, UK, France, Spain, Switzerland, Austria, Belgium, and Saudi Arabia. By 1987, the company had a total of 500 employees working across 50 countries. In 1999, the company became a publicly-traded enterprise and after getting listed in the Frankfurt Stock Exchange released two new products, Tamino Information Server and Tamino XML Server.
Expansion and Acquisitions
Software AG eventually started acquiring many companies and expanded into newer markets both tech-wise and geographically. In 2005, the company acquired Israeli-based legacy integration vendor Sabratech Ltd followed by SPL Software in March 2007. The same year, Software AG also bought a company called Jacada which was the foundation of AG’s R&D in Israel. The company also acquired one of its rivals in the US market, webMethods for $546 million. And, after this acquisition, Software AG became a leading company in the business process management sector. It also became a leader of the service-oriented architecture (SOA) product domain.
In 2009, Software AG acquired a German-based company called IDS Scheer which fully became a part of the Company in 2010. The company also bought a leading company of master data management, Data Foundations in October 2010. Next, Software AG strategically acquired companies that provided cloud services and mobile applications. For example, it acquired Terracotta Inc which was a leading provider of in-memory technology for both high-performing applications and cloud services. It also acquired Metismo Ltd which was known for building a very flexible and versatile platform that helped to build device-independent mobile applications. In April 2012, Software AG acquired a British company called My-Channels which helped it gain access to universal messaging technology.
Next, in 2013, Software AG acquired many companies. First, it acquired a US-based company called LongJump which was a cloud platform provider followed by a leading software provider called Alfabet. Alfabet specialized in “enterprise architecture” and “IT Portfolio Management” which broadened the IT landscape of the company. The same year, the company also invested in a mobile software company called Metaquark. In recent years, some of its acquisitions include CONNX Solution, Zementis, Cumulocity, Trendminer, and Built.io. The company’s last acquisition was in November 2018.
Sanjay Brahmawar – CEO of Software AG
Sanjay Brahmawar is an Indian-Belgium software and business executive. He was born in India and pursued his studies at Delhi College of Engineering and MBA from the University of Leeds. In 2003, he started his career at IBM and worked for several roles. Before he left IBM, he was the general manager for global revenue at IBM’s Watson IoT. In 2018, he joined Software AG as the CEO.
Annasha Dey is an NIT student, who apart from studying engineering is also a content writer. She has a great interest in photography, writing, reading novels, and travelling as well. She is a foodie who loves socializing and hanging out with her friends. She is also a trained Kathak dancer and a big fashion enthusiast. Dey also loves watching TV series, which includes F.R.I.E.N.D.S. and Big Bang Theory. To be a better writer she prefers to read more