ZapThink Acquires SOA Leader Linthicum Group, LLC

ZapThink, LLC, the industry’s foremost advisory firm focused on Service-Oriented Architecture (SOA) today announces the acquisition of The Linthicum Group, LLC, a well-respected SOA consulting firm, and the addition of David S. Linthicum to ZapThink. ZapThink will expand its intellectual property and team with expertise and resources from the acquisition to provide ZapThink customers with expert SOA advisory, research, and guidance. The announcement was made during Linthicum’s keynote address to the e-Gov Institute’s 7th Enterprise Architecture Conference & Exhibition in Washington, DC.

“Dave brings significant market visibility, thought leadership, a deep understanding of enterprise architecture, and proven approaches and methodologies for SOA adoption,” says Ronald Schmelzer, Managing Partner at ZapThink. “We see the addition of David and the Linthicum Group team as strategic to the ZapThink offerings, providing us with the ability to better service our expanding combined client base.”

In addition to the Linthicum Group’s well-respected and renowned work in the SOA and enterprise integration marketplaces, David Linthicum is a highly visible thought leader who is responsible for writing for and managing a number of significant blogs and publications, as well as speaking at hundreds of industry events over the course of his career.

“Both of our firms are internationally known to provide expert SOA advisory, education, mentoring, and research,” says David Linthicum. “This combination will instantly become the most influential SOA consulting organization in the world, with access to the best-known and respected SOA thought leaders and practitioners.”

As part of the acquisition, ZapThink will expand its product and service offerings to include:

* Master-Level SOA Advisory, including all steps to understanding, defining, designing, implementing, testing, and managing world-class enterprise SOA implementations.
* Expansion of the ZapThink’s SOA education and credentialing offering, the Licensed ZapThink Architect (LZA) program worldwide.
* Strategic SOA Mentorship, working with new or existing SOA planning and development teams to insure success.
* SOA Product Strategy Guidance, providing practical insight to capture the rapidly expanding SOA marketplace, and craft SOA offerings that will fit that market.
* SOA Consulting Firm Support and Best Practices, assisting thought-leading consulting organizations with their SOA services offerings, including development of intellectual capital, processes, methods, and service delivery procedures.

“ZapThink and Linthicum will form a real 'power combo' in the market.Dave adds even more ‘Zip’ to ‘ZapThink’!,” says Joe McKendrick, nationally published known consultant, editor, and author of the SOA Blog on ZDNet. “The addition of The Linthicum Group to the ZapThink team is significant, compelling, and of real interest to all companies looking to successfully adopt SOA. ZapThink is clearly positioning themselves as the pre-eminent thought leaders in this space.”

“We are excited about the SOA depth and breadth David and his team can bring to our clients,” says Jason Bloomberg, Managing Partner at ZapThink. We feel that the combined entity will create the market-leading SOA strategy services team for this emerging market. Our focus has always been on making our clients successful, and the addition of The Linthicum Group means that we are better able to meet that goal for both current and future clients.”

About ZapThink, LLC
Founded in October 2000, ZapThink, LLC (http://www.zapthink.com) is an IT advisory and analysis firm that provides trusted advice and critical insight into the architectural and organizational changes brought about by the movement to Service Orientation and Enterprise Web 2.0. ZapThink helps its vendor, consulting, and end-user customers understand IT products and services in the context of SOA and the vision of Service Orientation, provides guidance into emerging best practices for Web Services and SOA adoption, and brings together SOA-interested audiences into a network that provides business value and expertise to each member of the network. ZapThink’s principals, Jason Bloomberg and Ronald Schmelzer, authored the notable SOA books Service Orient or Be Doomed! How Service Orientation Will Change Your Business (John Wiley & Sons, 2006) and XML and Web Services Unleashed (SAMS Publishing, 2002). ZapThink is headquartered in Baltimore, Maryland. Its customers include Global 1000 firms and emerging businesses.

About Linthicum Group
The Linthicum Group (www.linthicumgroup.com) provides world class SOA consulting to major corporations and government agencies, as well as select SOA product companies. CEO David Linthicum is the former CEO of BRIDGEWERX, and has held key technology management roles with a number of organizations including CTO of Mercator Software, CTO of SAGA Software, Mobil Oil, EDS, AT&T, and Ernst and Young. In addition, he was an associate professor of computer science for eight years, and continues to lecture at major technical colleges and universities. David keynotes at many leading technology conferences. Linthicum hosts InfoWorld's SOA Report Podcast and writes InfoWorld's Real World SOA Blog and columns in SOA World and Business Integration Journal. David authored best-selling Enterprise Application Integration (Addison-Wesley, 1999), Next-Generation Application Integration: From Simple Information to Web Services (Addison-Wesley, 2003), and the forthcoming 12 Steps to SOA (Addison-Wesley, 2007).