WebMethods


webMethods was an enterprise software company, acquired by Software AG, focused on application integration, business process integration and B2B partner integration. Founded in 1996, the company sold systems for organizations to use web services to connect software applications over the Internet. In 2000, the company went public on the NASDAQ in the most successful software IPO to date, based on investor interest and first day share price appreciation. In 2002, the company was named by Deloitte as the fastest-growing software company in North America over the period 1998 to 2002. In 2007 webMethods was acquired by Software AG for $546 million and was made a subsidiary of that company. In 2010 the webMethods division of Software AG recorded over $668 million in revenues. Software AG retained the webMethods name, and uses it as a brand to identify a software suite encompassing process improvement, SOA enablement, IT modernization and business and partner integration.

History

The company was founded in 1996 by Phillip Merrick and Caren Merrick to use Web standards such as HTTP and XML to allow software applications to communicate with one another in real time. This type of technology would later be referred to as "web services". The company's first product, called the "Web Automation Server" was released in August 1996; this was later superseded by the "WebMethods Integration Server", which was the company's first product to see significant commercial use.
Initially, the founders used their savings and credit cards to keep the company operating. By 1999 the company had clients such as DHL, Dell, Dun & Bradstreet and Hewlett-Packard, and had completed several rounds of venture capital investment. In March 1999 the company entered into a partnership with SAP AG to create an SAP-focused integration product called the SAP Business Connector. The company's revenue went from around $0.5M in 1997 to $14M in 1999 and $202M in 2001. WebMethods acquired Active Software in October 2000. In February 2000, webMethods went public on the NASDAQ in the most successful software IPO to date, based on investor interest and first day share price appreciation. In 2003 Deloitte recognized webMethods as the fastest growing software company in North America, placing it at No. 4 on the Deloitte Fast 500 list of fastest growing companies.
The company was an early developer and promoter of standards for web service technologies, having worked on XML-RPC, a precursor to SOAP, and developed WIDL, a precursor to the WSDL standard.
Software AG acquired webMethods in 2007 for $546 million and announced that the brand webMethods will be retained, effectively making webMethods its flagship product line. WebMethods version 8.0 was released in 2009, supplemented with other Software AG products such as Centrasite, Tamino and EntireX. In 2010, the webMethods division of Software AG recorded $668 million in revenues and was a major contributor to overall company net income of $292 million.

Acquisitions