Firms that use content management software from FileNet are worried about a pending acquisition of the company by IBM. The deal, which totals $1.6 billion, may cause some concern among customers, but industry observers say it is unlikely that IBM will eliminate the products provided by FileNet. IBM has attempted to sell consumers the same types of products, according to Jim Murphy, research director at AMR Research. Customers that stayed with FileNet throughout a revamping of its applications made considerable investments to do so, says Murphy. Replacing the old FileNet with the improved version imposed a significant cost on these customers, so they have reason to be worried about the need to implement additional changes as a result of the IBM takeover. Murphy does not see much of a problem in this regard, however, noting the considerable overlap between the products of IBM and FileNet. He says it would impose too high a cost on IBM to use a so-called rip-and-replace strategy. Murphy expects IBM to try to preserve services revenue by maintaining the existing FileNet implementations. In its announcement of the acquisition, IBM executives emphasized that the firm will continue to develop its Content Manager software and the P8 platform of FileNet. IBM sees this activity as a 'growth play,' and it plans to continue to invest in both of the platforms, preserve existing FileNet partnerships, and continue its support of multiple platform options.