Software giant Microsoft has made another strategic acquisition and partnership. The company this week announced that it has acquired DataSense, a data management platform, from US-based startup BrightBytes.
According to Techcrunch, the Redmond-based company has acquired the data management platform to bring more data analytics capabilities to education solution providers. DataSense is an integration platform-as-a-service product that’s used to collect, integrate and report information from across a wide range of web-based education services and other data sources.
DataSense currently manages data for millions of students across the United States. It used in over 25,000 schools across the globe.
DataSense has been developed by BrightBytes, a San Francisco-based education data analytics company. BrightBytes is no longer stranger to Microsoft. The two companies have already worked in the past few years, as technology partners in some areas like education and other cloud-based services. Both companies recognized the huge potential of education as the next big data business
As part of the deal, the DataSense development team will join Microsoft’s global education division in the company's Redmond’s headquarters. Unfortunately, the tech giant hasn’t disclosed to the public the financial terms of the deal.
What will happen to DataSense
As mentioned earlier by Techcrunch, DataSense is a leading integration platform-as-a-service solution for education solution providers as well as schools. The will likely integrate with Microsoft Education software product. The software giant has been working for years, trying to beef up its presence n the highly lucrative education and learning analytics market.
That’s why this latest deal is expected to expand the company’s recent works in various US schools, like the Fresno Unified School District.
When combined with the company’s Azure cloud computing service, DataSense will help users collect, manage and control access to their data. DataSense will play a major role, bringing more data-analytics capabilities to schools, Microsoft claimed.
As for the original owner and developer BrightBytes, the company will continue to operate as a startup company. The company will continue to sell its Clarity data analytics product, which reportedly used in over 25,000 schools across the United States.
The software giant teams up with TomTom to counter archrival Amazon AWS
In another Microsoft-related story, the software giant this week announced an expanded partnership with TomTom, a Dutch-based location technology and mapping specialist. The two first announced their technology partnership in 2016. The main goal of this latest partnership, according to Microsoft, is to bring an enterprise-grade location-services to Microsoft’s cloud computing arm, Azure.
As part of the newly announced partnership, TomTom will now be the premier location data provider for both Microsoft Azure and Bing Maps. Microsoft’s latest partnership followed another move from rival Amazon AWS, which last year announced a similar technology partnership with another mapping specialist.
