Founded in 1996 and utilizing a unique combination of technologies borne out of research at Cambridge University, Autonomy has experienced a meteoric rise. The company currently has a market cap of $7 billion, is the second largest pure software company in Europe and has offices worldwide. Autonomy is a global leader in infrastructure software for the enterprise that helps organizations to derive meaning and value from their information, as well as mitigate the risks associated with those same assets. Autonomy's position as the market leader is widely recognized by leading industry analysts including Gartner, Forrester Research, IDC and Ovum.
So Hewlett Packard bought a company for $12 Billion. Oracle, HP's rival, claims it is overpriced. But what does Autonomy do anyway?
Well, Autonomy has a technology that can extract data from any source. When I say any source, I mean any source. A phone call, a tv show, CCTV camera footage, radio broadcasts, you name it. It extracts and processes the data in however you would want it. Want to track certain names or phrases that come up on all the phone calls in the world? Hell, if it's legal, Autonomy already has the technology to do it. It's the ultimate in Big Brother technology.
So is that worth US$ 12 Billion? What do you think?
Funny that the person responsible for the deal isn't in Hewlett Packard anymore. Leo Apotheker has been replaced by Meg Whitman as CEO of HP. Apotheker gained publicity by announcing HP is discontinuing it's PC production line.
