Hyland Software, the developer of the OnBase enterprise contentmanagement software suite, has acquired Liberty InformationManagement Systems. The transaction was private, and terms of theagreement were not disclosed. By acquiring Liberty, Hyland is ableto add more than 1,000 Liberty client organizations to Hyland'sbase of 7,200 customers. Hyland also will extend its resellerchannel base with an established network of channel partners whopossess domain expertise in selling and supporting documentimaging, COLD/ERM, and workflow solutions to organizations inHyland's target vertical markets

In addition, the deal allows Hyland to broaden its presence inthe western United States and central Canada by maintainingLiberty's offices and an existing team of experienced ECMprofessionals in Costa Mesa, Calif., and Ottawa, Ont.

Since 1987, Liberty IMS has secured more than 1,000implementations of its LibertyNET and LibertyNET Office products inorganizations spanning several vertical markets, includingfinancial services and healthcare. In acquiring Liberty, Hylandadds a team of professionals with technical and sales expertise tohelp optimize the company's document-centric business processes.Moreover, Liberty brings to Hyland an established network ofchannel partners that can help expand Hyland's own network ofsolutions providers in key U.S. and Canadian regional markets.

"Liberty and Hyland Software share the same values," says SteveLehrer, formerly chief solutions officer at Liberty who will bejoining Hyland as a senior member of the product team. "Bothcompanies have remained focused on developing solutions driven bycustomer requirements and not industry hype. Bringing our twocompanies together will provide our customers and partners with aneven broader set of capabilities with which to drive down costs anddecrease inefficiencies while improving their businessprocesses."