Midwest software giant SSA Global Technologies, a major player in the mid-market enterprise software space, signed a definitive agreement to acquire Epiphany, a CRM solution provider to the enterprise.

Epiphany boasts customers such as Nestle, the Gap, Citibank, and Microsoft. It is also noteworthy for being one of the early adopters of a component-based SOA architecture.

Both SSA and Epiphany endorse services-oriented design and J2EE.

While SSA does have its own CRM solutions mainly for manufacturing, Mike Greenough, president and CEO at SSA Global, called the Epiphany CRM solution an innovative and robust solution that will enhance SSA"s current offering.

Josh Greenbaum, chief industry analyst for Enterprise Applications Consulting, said SSA is setting itself up to be one of the three or four major contenders in this dynamic mid-market space.

"As SSA picks up more and more distressed companies, it will quickly become SSA versus Microsoft, Oracle, and SAP," Greenbaum said.

SSA wants to be the one with the biggest customer base and the most competitive applications. "They already have a worldwide distribution channel," Greenbaum added.

Focusing mainly on manufacturing, distribution, and retail, SSA offers ERP applications, BPM, product lifecycle management, SCM, and supplier-relationship management.

SSA Global will acquire Epiphany for a gross value of US$329 million, or $4.20 per share for the Epiphany shareholders. The acquisition is expected to be completed in eight to 12 weeks.

Over the past several years SSA has picked up a number of distressed assets, some of which are good and some of which aren"t, Greenbaum said. "But (the acquisitions) represent a strong maintenance revenue stream."

The goal of SSA will be to get out in front of its new customers with a migration and update strategy that blunts the attacks of Oracle, SAP, and Microsoft in the mid market, according to the analyst.