DEVOPSdigest

Redgate Software enhanced its portfolio by acquiring SQL Manager from Croatia-based company, SysKit.

The move is in response to the introduction of legislation like the upcoming General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and will enable Redgate users to satisfy increasing requirements for data privacy and protection.

SQL Manager gives users a complete picture of their SQL Server estate and creates a comprehensive inventory report covering all of their SQL Servers, Azure SQL Servers, SQL Server BI Services, and databases. This data discovery and classification step is the first – and one of the most important – in the journey companies will need to take to meet regulatory compliance, and the tool sits naturally alongside Redgate’s other SQL Server tools, many of which are regarded as the industry standard.

Redgate, which has been extending its SQL Server toolset to cover every part of database DevOps, sees data privacy and protection as the next big challenge for SQL Server users, and SQL Manager is already making headway in the market.

A development team is now working on the tool to upgrade and enhance its data classification functionality, and the newly renamed SQL Estate Manager will be released in early 2018 as part of a complete data privacy and protection solution.

SysKit, meanwhile, sees the sale of SQL Manager as a move which will enable it to grow faster by concentrating on developing tools for the SharePoint market.

“We’ve already created tools like SPDocKit, the management and administration tool for generating SharePoint documentation,” says Toni Frankola, SysKit Co-Founder and CEO. “We can now focus on creating further tools to help those same users do even more.”

The relationship between the companies will also continue to thrive through Redgate’s CEO, Simon Galbraith, whose investment vehicle, Redgate Investments, has made a substantial investment in SysKit, with the option for a further investment round in two years.

As Simon Galbraith says: “We’ve enjoyed working with SysKit on this transaction and they’re at the point Redgate was in its own journey some years ago. We’re not just investing money in SysKit, or placing the kind of conditions a normal VC company would ask for. Instead, we’ll be giving them access to our knowledge in sales, marketing and development to help them grow further, faster.”

The investment in SQL Manager and SysKit follows Redgate’s acquisition of SQL Code Guard earlier this year. While SQL Code Guard itself remains free for personal and non-commercial use, its static code analysis functionality has been added to Redgate’s own tools, SQL Prompt and SQL Monitor.

As Simon Galbraith concludes: “Software is changing faster and faster, and if there’s a functionality or a product out there that can make our tools better, buying it means we can get it into the hands of our users sooner, and make their working lives easier.”