Quest Software Acquires Erwin To Boost Its DataOps Offerings

The sale of Erwin by its private equity firm owner is the latest chapter in the company’s lengthy history that includes being owned by Platinum Technology and Computer Associates.

Quest Software has acquired onetime CA Technologies spinoff Erwin in a move to bolster its data management and DataOps offerings.

Quest bought Erwin from its owner, private equity firm Parallax Capital Partners, for an undisclosed sum. Quest, based in Aliso Viejo, Calif., said the acquisition closed Dec. 31, 2020 and the company disclosed the deal Tuesday.

Erwin, based in Melville, N.Y., is a long-time developer of data modeling and metadata management software that in recent years has expanded into data governance and business process modeling. The company’s product portfolio includes Erwin Data Modeler for developing big data applications, the Erwin Data Intelligence Suite for locating and classifying data, and the Erwin Evolve Suite of business process modeling tools.

[Related: The Big Data 100 2020]

Quest said the acquisition will strengthen its technology portfolio in DataOps, the collective term for tools and practices that businesses and organizations use to automate big data management tasks including data collection, governance and analytics.

DataOps is widely seen as a critical component of the digital transformation initiatives many businesses and organizations are undertaking today.

“Data-centric projects are rapidly accelerating across the enterprise. Together, Quest and Erwin will continue to deliver database tools aimed at helping companies know their data, alleviating concerns about where and how their data is used,” said Patrick Nichols, Quest Software CEO, in a statement.

Erwin’s original software product was created in 1993 by Logic Works. Through a series of acquisitions, including to Platinum Technology in 1998, the Erwin product line became part of software giant Computer Associates in 1999. Erwin was spun off and sold to Parallax in 2016. The company has some 3,500 customers globally.

Erwin was on the CRN Big Data 100 2020 list and on the CRN 2020 Emerging Vendors to Know list.

Quest markets a broad range of systems management, security and data management software – the latter including data protection and database management tools. The addition of Erwin will greatly expand that lineup, Quest said.

“Quest was already dominant in database tooling and performance monitoring, and now, by combining with Erwin’s industry-leading data modeling, data intelligence, and Evolve products, this acquisition further establishes Quest as a major player in the enterprise data management market end-to-end,“ Nichols said.

Erwin will be incorporated into Quest’s Information Systems and Management business unit, overseen by president and general manager Heath Thompson who was just hired for the post in November.

The ISM business unit markets the company’s database management, data protection and unified endpoint management products that are designed to help businesses manage, monitor, move and protect data across their organizations.

“Quest and Erwin‘s products together provide a powerful solution for the digital transformation that today’s enterprises require to stay competitive and address ever-growing concerns of stewardship and compliance,” said Erwin CEO Adam Famularo in a statement. “Thanks to metadata-driven automation, all stakeholders can discover, harvest, understand, govern, and socialize data assets to unleash more potential and greater value while mitigating risk.”

Quest did not disclose additional plans for combining Erwin’s business operations with its own or whether Famularo would have a role within the company. Famularo, previously Verizon’s channel chief, was hired to be Erwin’s CEO in April 2016.