Atlassian buys AirTrack: Consolidation Down Under

ITAM News & Analysis

Atlassian buys AirTrack: Consolidation Down Under

Atlassian buys AirTrack – The mega software company Atlassian has purchased fellow Aussie AirTrack for an undisclosed sum. 

This news comes shortly after Atlassian completed the biggest acquisition in its history when it spent $US975 million ($1.5 billion) to acquire  video collaboration platform Loom in October. 

AirTrack specialises in helping customers understand the data and digital assets they own, and how they are configured. It was originally spun out of its former parent company The Mastermind Group (TMG) by its managing director, Mike Jones, in 2017. AirTrack has certainly made a big impression during its relatively short six years in the space, having made the shortlist for “ITAM Technology of the Year” at the 2022 and 2020 ITAM Review Excellence Awards. AirTrack has gained a strong reputation for solving a problem that has grown in complexity for many organisations over the years – data quality.

Why did Atlassian buy AirTrack? 

AirTrack provides IT data quality management technology. Using a process of aggregation, consolidation and normalisation across multiple data sources, AirTrack seeks out data inaccuracies in order to facilitate rapid remediation of associated risks across IT. 

Atlassian will use AirTrack to bolster its Jira Service Management product. By adding AirTrack, Jira Service Management will be able to provide its customers with a fuller, more accurate picture of all critical assets, minimizing operational risks, costs, and attack surfaces. 

A statement on the AirTrack website provides a little more context: “IT Operations rely upon accurate data, but what happens when there are too many management platforms, too many systems of record, and unfortunately, too many versions of the truth.

AirTrack gathers, aggregates and analyses multiple sources of data used across IT, making it easy to pinpoint issues, so you can move onto more important tasks.”

Atlassian said AirTrack will sit alongside Jira and build on previous acquisitions it had made in service management, including Opsgenie in 2018, and fellow Aussie firms Code Barrel in 2019 and ThinkTilt in 2021. 

ITAM Review Analysis on why Atlassian buys AirTrack

A source close to the deal explained to the ITAM Review that Atlassian will be using the quality of AirTrack’s data as a differentiator over their competitors.

Martin Thompson, founder of ITAM Review had this to say, “Good quality data is a key requirement across the enterprise but Airtrack’s roots were initially in IT Asset Management, whereby trustworthy data is a foundational step. It’s great to see a supplier the size of Atlassian recognise this value and potentially use it as a differentiator in the service management market”

What does Mike Jones, founder of AirTrack think?

We asked AirTrack’s founder, Mike Jones, for comment about the acquisition and the reasons behind it. His detailed response is below, which includes (as a per a personal request by Rich) his answer to the question, “Which hip-hop lyrics most sum up this moment for you?”

“The AirTrack team is thrilled to join Atlassian – a company we’ve long admired, that forged a path for tech startups in Australia.

In our discussions with Atlassian, we looked at the fit both culturally and from a product perspective and it just made sense. This allows us to accelerate our collective vision and deliver tangible impact to customers.

AirTrack is aligned with Atlassian’s mission to “unlock the potential in every team”, by bringing together disparate sources across an organisation to provide a single view of the estate, allowing teams to identify and remediate issues at scale.

Although AirTrack started life and has very strong use cases in IT Asset Management (and we’ll never forget our roots), over the years, we pivoted to a much broader set of use cases across an enterprise, including Configuration Management, Security, and Operational Governance. As we look down the road, the opportunity is endless and we’re focussing on unlocking data available within a customer environment, to deliver an incredible experience, whether it be in IT, HR, Facilities… you name it!

Atlassian believes in this vision too, so joining forces feels like a no-brainer. AirTrack perfectly complements Atlassian’s service management solution, Jira Service Management, to offer a comprehensive view of all assets teams need to track, not just IT Assets. We’re excited to bring our collective vision to life for our customers and partners. As Rob Base and DJ E-Z Rock once wrote into history, “It takes two to make a thing go right, It takes two to make it outta sight.” 

As for what’s next for me, I’m officially an Atlassian and will join the IT Solutions product management team. In this role, I’ll oversee the integration work of AirTrack with Jira Service Management and contribute to the future vision of this market-leading solution.”

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