Outsell on the assimilation

Outsell posted yesterday on the assimilation of META by the Gartner Borg:
What Happened to META?

Not a great deal of revelations, but it's a good summary of recent posts byJoe in GartnerWatch and ourselves. Comments:

• On what Gartner kept from META, we think "not a great deal". The number of analysts retained is more in the region of 50%, and we think they won't stick around for the vast majority. However, we agree they kept some verticals and the EPAS analysts. Consultants are long gone for the best part, except the cost based benchmarking and a few here and there. Interestingly enough, it looks like Gartner is hiring again...
• We think Gartner has over inflated expectations in terms of renewals: as we've said before, the acquisition makes little sense financially -apart from taking out a competitor-, which indeed means higher prices (and less discounting), a more aggressive (and arrogant) sales tactics/attitude.
• We agree with their conclusion: the merger is an opportunity for Forrester, Ovum, etc...
  "The next year should see an increase in sales for other IT research firms as former META customers search for that second opinion."