ILS Vendors Sirsi and Dynix To Merge

-- Library Journal, 6/21/2005

Sirsi Corporation and Dynix Corporation—the second largest and largest ILS vendors—announced this morning that they will merge. The new SirsiDynix, which will be the largest ILS vendor by far, will continue full development and support of both Sirsi’s Unicorn and Dynix’s Horizon 8.x/Corinthian.

Planning is underway to integrate worldwide operations between the two companies. As SirsiDynix, the company will have approximately 4000 installations around the world, with over 20,000 library outlets. In 2004, Dynix led the industry in new sales, followed closely by Sirsi, which tied for second with Innovative Interfaces. Both companies are privately held; terms were not disclosed.

Patrick Sommers, Sirsi’s CEO, described the new company as a “merger of equals.” Sommers will step up to become CEO of SirsiDynix while Jack Blount, Dynix’s CEO, will be retained as a consultant.

How deep is the merger? Thomas Gates, Sirsi’s vice president of marketing, told LJ that the two “will become one company” to streamline development, but will retain their individual identities: “These are strong brands and they will be retained.” Both Sirsi’s Huntsville, AL, and Dynix’s Provo, UT, facilities will be maintained. With a flat customer base and with vendors scrambling to provide libraries with similar functions, consolidation in the ILS market has been predicted for years. “This venture will allow us to capitalize our resources and eliminate redundancies,” said Gates. “It opens the door to even greater innovation for our libraries.”