Macromedia Sets Sights On Dynamic Web Content, Adds Allaire To The Fold

Macromedia has announced that they have stuck a deal to merge with the Web application builder, Allaire. The combination of Macromediais professional level web development tools - Dreamweaver, UltraDev, and Fireworks - and Allaireis experience in "back end" creation should lead to compelling, and simple, Web development and creation packages. According to company officials:

Macromedia, Inc. and Allaire Corporation today announced a definitive merger agreement. The combined company will unite the Web design and development communities and enable Web professionals to efficiently build the look of a Web site and the application logic behind it-creating the best possible user experience across multiple devices.

The transaction, valued at approximately $360 million on a fully-diluted basis, brings together market-leading server, authoring and playback software to make Web development more efficient, affordable, and accessible. Under the terms of the definitive merger agreement unanimously approved by each companyis board of directors, Macromedia will acquire Allaire. Rob Burgess, chairman and CEO of Macromedia, will continue as chairman and CEO of the combined company, which will retain the Macromedia name. Jeremy Allaire, CTO of Allaire, will be the CTO of Macromedia, reporting to Kevin Lynch, president of Macromedia products.

"This merger is a natural. Combining the technology and talent of Macromedia and Allaire will bring Web professionals a complete, accessible way to build engaging, dynamic Web sites and applications," said Burgess. "With this merger, we are taking the next logical step in empowering developers to create-and users to enjoy-a new generation of compelling Web experiences on everything from personal computers and set-top boxes to PDAs and beyond."

The strengths of the combined company include:

  • A comprehensive, market-leading authoring and server product line;
  • Macromedia? Dreamweaver?, the leading professional visual HTML editor, with more than a 70 percent market share;
  • Macromedia? Flash?, the rich media standard, with a 96 percent Web penetration;
  • Allaire? ColdFusion?, the leading cross-platform Web application server;
  • Allaire? JRun?, the volume leader in J2EE application servers;
  • High volume distribution of software through complementary channels; and
  • A combined customer base of more than two million, ranging from Web designers to application developers to Java programmers.

The combined company will evolve its Web development platform with support for open industry standards. The first step is to deliver on Allaireis plan to bring the development model of ColdFusion to the J2EE standard. This will enable an approachable, productive solution for building applications on the Java platform using industry standard technologies such as XML and JSP. The next step will be to develop a set of application services-reusable components and application logic-that enhance the major software platforms including Java and Microsoft .NET.

As the Web evolves, users will access content not just through PCs but via a wide variety of devices. The combined company will work towards empowering developers with an efficient way to develop once for multiple devices and then serve these applications without having to redevelop application logic for each device.

You can find more information about each company at their respective web sites.

Macromedia - Allaire