I was surprised to see the announcement, published earlier this afternoon, that Endeavor and Ex Libris would merge under the ownership of Francisco Partners, a private equity fund with a focus on technology. In fact, I am still going through all of the ramifications of this news and haven’t quite figured out what it might mean. For a more cogent and unbiased view, be sure to read Andrew Pace’s writeup about the news at his Hectic Pace blog.

I can’t be unbiased about this news. Not only have I worked with and implemented most of Ex Libris’s product suite, I have worked as an employee of Endeavor, most recently from September 2005 through April 2006 (and for about three years in an earlier stint with the company). I have friends in both organizations.

The news caught me off guard. Upon reflection, though, it shouldn’t have. My personal opinion is that no matter what the language of the press release might use, this is not truly a merger of two separate companies. Instead it is a de facto acknowledgement of defeat by Elsevier, Endeavor’s parent company, in the longstanding battle for the high-end, large academic research libraries market. Ex Libris has certainly won the war, with mostly better products, better technology, and better support. My sense is that Elsevier has not received a satisfactory return on its investment in Endeavor; that its strategy, at least as I could see, to utilize Endeavor’s technology to boost its capability to deliver its content, has not been successful.

Of course there is almost a complete overlap of products between the two companies and so the speculation will center on which products will survive. Andrew Pace makes some predictions and I think he is probably correct. We could both be wrong but I agree with Andrew, that Endeavor’s Meridian and Discovery products will soon be history. What is less certain of course is the fate of Endeavor’s Voyager product vs. Ex Libris’s Aleph 500. Each system has its strengths but overall I believe that the Voyager product has a slight edge in terms of ease of implementation and use. We’ll see what unfolds in the coming months. (I have absolutely no “inside” knowledge about any of this. I am just as much in “guess mode” as anyone else.)

More personally, I wonder what will happen to many friends and acquaintences who work for Endeavor. As one would expect, the press release does not go into detail on this aspect of the deal except to say that Ex Libris’s existing Chicago office will be moved into the office space currently used by Endeavor. That office space is right next to O’Hare airport and is ideally situated for easy access for customers. I seriously doubt that everyone’s jobs will be retained as a result of this merger. I especially doubt that the development staff at Endeavor will remain intact. This is the area where I used to work.

It has been clear to me for some time that something big needed to happen at Endeavor if it was to survive. Now I know what that “something” is!