Progress Software, at times known for being a savvy but shrewd buyer (e.g., past fire sale acquisition and restructuring/repositioning of B2B player eXcelon into BPM player), has picked up U.K-based event stream processing software Apama for $25.4 million (cash). From Mass High Tech:

Both companies' boards have already
sealed the deal and formerly privately held Apama, based in Cambridge,
England, will be folded into ObjectStore Data management software.
ObjectStore is an operating unit of Progress that specializes in data
caching and management.

The merger means revenue to publicly
traded Progress' bottom line of $2 million to $3 million for the rest
of fiscal 2005. The company also will offer retention benefits to Apama
employees that could reach $4 million.

Financial services
companies such as JP Morgan Chase use Apama's real-time software to
help identify trading opportunities with its event stream processing
technology. Other potential applications for Apama's software include
RFID supply chain management, retail and manufacturing.

Steve Shu