Today Microsoft announced that they have acquired technology assets from BHOLD, a dutch vendor of Access Governance technology. Microsoft thus now owns technology which has been missing in their IAM portfolio until now. Microsoft thus enters the Access Governance market. Whether that will happen through enhancements of their existing FIM 2010 product or by adding another product based on the BHOLD technology hasn't been announced yet. Anyhow, the deal will change the Access Governance market, particularly regarding the offerings which are targeted to complement Microsoft FIM.
KuppingerCole will follow up on this news and provide further information as soon as it is available. Overall, this acquisitions proves that Microsoft continues investing in the broader IAM space and thus rates this market segment as important to their customers. For existing BHOLD customers, the acquisition provides new opportunities given that they are working with a much bigger vendor now. However, the impact on existing customers can be rated first when the Microsoft roadmap is unveiled. In general we recommend existing BHOLD customers to stay calm until more information is available. For customers investing or planning to invest into FIM 2010, the acquisition is definitely good news because it means that FIM will grow beyond the somewhat technical approach into a more business-oriented solution over time. However, without the roadmap being unveiled it is hard to predict when Microsoft customers really will benefit.