Hyperion Solutions Corp. last week sought to enhance its business performance management (BPM) portfolio by acquiring privately-held UpStream Software, a provider of data readiness and guided workflow application software.UpStream's flagship WebLink DM offering is a product of (and tailor made for) the post-SOX age. Hyperion officials are betting that UpStream's technology will help give them a competitive edge-particularly with companies that have grown as a result of intense merger-and-acquisition activity.

"We agree with our customers that when it comes to financial data, the margin of error is zero," said Godfrey Sullivan, president and CEO of Hyperion. "Adding financial data quality management is a logical extension to the value Hyperion provides its customers. By offering UpStream technology as part of our BPM system, we roll out a proven solution," he said.

"We entered this market because we saw the perfect storm of compliance requirements, financial system complexity and increasingly dynamic global market conditions creating a need for a robust financial data quality solution," said Tom Shea, co-founder, president and CEO of UpStream. "As part of Hyperion's Business Performance Management system, this solution will provide value to a far greater number of global businesses."

Financial data quality management is a part of the overall data quality market, estimated by Forrester Research to be a $407 million market in 2006 and growing at 17 percent CAGR. Data quality is part of the broader data management category, which includes related technologies such as data modeling, data movement (ETL), data security and master data management.

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Prashanth Rai