Ovum, Heavy Reading, Tractica Brands to Go in Merger

Research, media and events provider Informa Tech is bringing together its analysis and research units into a single entity. Ovum, Heavy Reading, Tractica and most of what was previously IHS Markit's TMT research business will be unified under the new brand, Omdia.

Operating from 20th February, Omdia will boast more than 400 expert analysts and consultants covering 150 technology markets and responsible for more than 3000 research reports annually. The firm also boasts more than 300,000 research panellists.

Some well-established brands will disappear with the reorganisation: Ovum has provided tech management consulting services for thirty years, and the current company is itself the result of an integration of three units in 2009; Heavy Reading began life as the research and advisory services unit of telecoms publishing and events company Light Reading, launched in 2000 - and was sold to Informa in 2016 by a co-founder who bought it back two years earlier from one-time NOP parent UBM; while Tractica was founded in 2015 by former ABI Research leader and Pike Research founder Clint Wheelock, who is now Omdia's Chief Research Officer.

Informa Tech itself was formed nine months ago, and quickly built up via an asset swap, when Informa exchanged its own Agribusiness Intelligence group for the Technology, Media and Telecoms (TMT) intelligence business of information and analytics giant IHS Markit. Informa Tech now has more than 1,000 staff, operating in more than 20 markets.

Mike Phillips (pictured), who will serve as President and MD of the new company, comments: 'Like the technology market that we serve, Omdia is greater than the sum of its parts. Accelerated innovation across domains such as 5G, AI, IoT, cloud and edge is transforming our world. This in turn drives new requirements into domains such as cybersecurity and microchip design. Omdia analysts work collaboratively to strengthen our insights into each individual domain, and to address sector-wide challenges such as data privacy and sustainability. We are excited about the new benefits and enhanced services we can now bring to our customers'. Gary Nugent (pictured), CEO of Informa Tech, says the new division 'underpins Informa Tech's mission to inspire the technology community to design, build and run a better digital world' by 'engaging with the millions of technology decision-makers served annually by [the group's] high-quality events and media brands'.

Web sites: www.informatech.com and www.omdia.com .