OneDrum's features will be rolled out later this year as a desktop-based application that will not require a separate plug-in for Microsoft Office, Yammer said.

The OneDrum acquisition represents "a big step in bridging the old and new styles of work" on the part of Yammer, Constellation Research analyst Alan Lepofsky said in a . "Many people still rely heavily on Office documents as part of their daily workflow. The combination of Yammer and OneDrum will make it easier for them to share, edit, comment, Like and discover those files."

However, OneDrum's functionality "is not unique," he added. "Competitors such as Jive offer similar integration which they obtained via the acquisition of Offisync in May 2011. Box, DropBox and other 'file sharing' vendors are also hard at work on improving their collaboration and sharing features."

The OneDrum deal comes amid an onrush of consolidation in the social collaboration software market. Also Wednesday, it has purchased cloud-based project management and collaboration vendor Podio.

The IDG News Service