Rocket Software is a privately held

software development Software development is the process of designing and Implementation, implementing a software solution to Computer user satisfaction, satisfy a User (computing), user. The process is more encompassing than Computer programming, programming, wri ...

firm founded in 1990. Using the

IBM Z IBM Z is a family name used by IBM for all of its z/Architecture mainframe computers. In July 2017, with another generation of products, the official family was changed to IBM Z from IBM z Systems; the IBM Z family will soon include the newes ...

, IBM Power, and embedded database platforms, Rocket provides

predictive analytics Predictive analytics encompasses a variety of Statistics, statistical techniques from data mining, Predictive modelling, predictive modeling, and machine learning that analyze current and historical facts to make predictions about future or other ...

with deep data, develops AI and

machine learning Machine learning (ML) is a field of study in artificial intelligence concerned with the development and study of Computational statistics, statistical algorithms that can learn from data and generalise to unseen data, and thus perform Task ( ...

capabilities, and designs mobile and browser applications. Its software runs on multiple platforms and

operating systems An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

, including

mainframe A mainframe computer, informally called a mainframe or big iron, is a computer used primarily by large organizations for critical applications like bulk data processing for tasks such as censuses, industry and consumer statistics, enterpris ...

IBM z/OS z/OS is a 64-bit computing, 64-bit operating system for IBM z/Architecture Mainframe computer, mainframes, introduced by IBM in October 2000. It derives from and is the successor to OS/390, which in turn was preceded by a string of MVS vers ...

IBM i IBM i (the ''i'' standing for ''integrated'') is an operating system developed by IBM for IBM Power Systems. It was originally released in 1988 as OS/400, as the sole operating system of the IBM AS/400 line of systems. It was renamed to i5/OS in 2 ...

UNIX Unix (, ; trademarked as UNIX) is a family of multitasking, multi-user computer operating systems that derive from the original AT&T Unix, whose development started in 1969 at the Bell Labs research center by Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, a ...

Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

and other platforms and offers tools to access non-

SQL Structured Query Language (SQL) (pronounced ''S-Q-L''; or alternatively as "sequel") is a domain-specific language used to manage data, especially in a relational database management system (RDBMS). It is particularly useful in handling s ...

data with standard SQL queries. Rocket operates in markets including the financial, banking, health care, government, insurance,

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial, and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astron ...

, auto manufacturing, and retail industries. Rocket has a business partnership with

IBM International Business Machines Corporation (using the trademark IBM), nicknamed Big Blue, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational technology company headquartered in Armonk, New York, and present in over 175 countries. It is ...

that began in 1994 with a licensing agreement for Rocket QMF tools. Since 2018,

Bain Capital Bain Capital, LP is an American Investment company, private investment firm based in Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, Massachusetts, with around $185 billion of assets under management. It specializes in private equity, venture capital, credit, p ...

has owned a majority stake in the company. Rocket is headquartered in

Waltham, Massachusetts Waltham ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, and was an early center for the labor movement as well as a major contributor to the Technological and industrial history of the United States, American Industrial Revoluti ...

, USA.

History

Rocket Software was founded in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

in 1990 by Andy Youniss and Johan Magnusson Gedda with a focus on IBM DB2 tools. Over the next three decades, the company grew both organically and through dozens of acquisitions, including Zephyr, Shadow, Aldon, and D3. In 2018, Bain Capital acquired a majority stake in the company in a deal that valued Rocket Software at nearly $2 billion. Since then, the company has continued to grow through a number of acquisitions. In 2021, Rocket acquired ASG Technologies, an enterprise information management and IT System Management Solutions Software provider. That same year Rocket acquired the database and tools products of Zumasys including jBASE MultiValue DB and Netherlands-based development platform Uniface. In November 2021, Milan Shetti was named CEO, replacing co-founder and longtime CEO Andy Youniss. In June 2022, Rocket released the latest version of its ASG-Enterprise Orchestrator (AEO)

DevOps DevOps is the integration and automation of the software development and information technology operations. DevOps encompasses necessary tasks of software development and can lead to shortening development time and improving the development life ...

value stream orchestration platform. In September 2022, Rocket acquired BOS, a German developer of

data integration Data integration refers to the process of combining, sharing, or synchronizing data from multiple sources to provide users with a unified view. There are a wide range of possible applications for data integration, from commercial (such as when a ...

tools. The unit was renamed Rocket Data Replicate and Sync. In 2023, Rocket acquired Key Resources, which specializes in mainframe security and vulnerability identification and assessment. In November 2023, Rocket agreed to buy OpenText’s Application Modernization and Connectivity (AMC) business for $2.28 billion in cash. Under the agreement, AMC’s software, associated services and about 750 employees were integrated into Rocket Software. The deal, which was completed in May 2024, increased Rocket Software’s revenue by 60% and grew its customer base to greater than 12,500 companies.

Reception

Since 2013 when the list was inaugurated, Rocket was included in Database Trends and Applications magazine's annual “DBTA 100,” a list of the companies that matter most in data. In 2017, former Rocket CEO Andy Youniss was named a New England Entrepreneur of the Year by professional services firm EY. Youniss was also presented the Leadership Award by Boston-based food rescue nonprofit Lovin' Spoonfuls in November 2017. In December 2017, Rocket was named Ellucian Growth Partner of the Year for providing support to the higher education IT services company in its transition to its current

cloud-based Cloud computing is "a paradigm for enabling network access to a scalable and elastic pool of shareable physical or virtual resources with self-service provisioning and administration on-demand," according to International Organization for ...

service offerings and

SaaS Software as a service (SaaS ) is a cloud computing service model where the provider offers use of application software to a client and manages all needed physical and software resources. SaaS is usually accessed via a web application. Unlike oth ...

licensing model. In 2020, Rocket was named in Inc.'s list of America's 1,000 Largest and Most Inspiring Private Companies. In 2023, Rocket Software received a Bronze Merit Award for Technology in the Software and Apps category. Rocket Software was also named Insider Threat Detection Platform of the Year at the 2023 CyberSecurity Breakthrough Awards. In 2024, Rocket was honored with an Intellyx Digital Innovator Award. Also in 2024, Rocket Software was recognized in DBTA’s list of Top 100 Companies That Matter Most in Data.

References

External links

*
Rocket Software
at GitHub * {{Rocket Software Software companies based in Massachusetts Information technology consulting firms of the United States Data processing Software companies of the United States 1990 establishments in Massachusetts Software companies established in 1990 American companies established in 1990