Over the past decade, the computing industry has realized the benefits of separating computing power from data storage. This has allowed centralized data consolidation and better management of metadata exposure.

During this time, theCUBE analysts have been tracking these changes, including with Informatica Inc. Since the 1990s, Informatica has evolved. As the competition for enterprise AI dominance grows, the company is working to stand out with its data platform services.

As the world gets enamored with AI, the true enablers of gen AI and heritage AI are the companies that make data engineering easy, according to theCUBE Research principal analyst Rob Strechay. For that reason, the announcements upcoming at Informatica World are highly anticipated.

“I look forward to their take on how gen AI in their products assists organizations in getting over the skills gaps and building better gen AI themselves,” Strechay said. “As our research shows, organizations are looking to build the right intelligent data platform. The things Informatica does with metadata and entity resolution are set up to solve important gaps in many of the current data platforms.”

Those subjects and more will be explored by Strechay and theCUBE co-host Rebecca Knight as they speak with Informatica executives and industry experts during Informatica World 2024. Join theCUBE, SiliconANGLE Media’s livestreaming studio, from May 20-22 for our live coverage of Informatica World. (* Disclosure below.)

Check out what’s in store for theCUBE’s coverage of Informatica World:

Company saw strong quarterly results, cloud growth

Earlier this year, Informatica saw strong fourth-quarter results that beat analysts’ forecasts and sent its stock to a 52-week high. Revenue for the period was up 12% from a year earlier to $445 million, which was well up from Wall Street’s consensus estimate of $432 million.

The company broke $1 billion in annual revenue for the first time, a notable milestone, while its software-based sales made up more than double its maintenance and professional services revenue. It means the company is more valuable than before, but isn’t without its challenges ahead, according to Holger Mueller of Constellation Research Inc.

“What is weighing heavily on the company is its interest expenses, which at roughly 10% of its revenue are dragging the company into the red,” he said at the time of the earnings release. “It more than doubled its loss per share from a year earlier, and so this is a key question for [Informatica CEO] Amit Walia and his team to address in the coming full-year. At the same time, Informatica will be required to keep its innovation engine ticking over and build more strategic partnerships to take advantage of opportunities such as AI.”

With those positive results in the rearview, the goal was to resume steady long-term growth with healthy profitability, according to Walia. The company saw its cloud subscription annual recurring revenue grow 37% year-over-year.

“Cloud is now the biggest part of our business, and it ladders up the growth rate,” Walia said. Growth slowed to a crawl between 2019 and 2022 as the company navigated its business transition, “but starting this year, the rate is growing.”

New product developments and plans for the future

Recently, rumors have swirled about Salesforce Inc. being interested in acquiring Informatica, including after the Wall Street Journal reported that the two companies were in “advanced talks” to move forward with an acquisition. However, in late April, a statement by the company stated it was not in talks.

“Our business fundamentals continue to be very strong, and we look forward to discussing our first quarter financial results and outlook on May 1,” Walia said in a release.

The report of the rumored bid didn’t damage the company’s momentum, as it again beat analyst estimates in its first-quarter 2024 earnings. Total revenue increased 6.3% to $389 million, up from $365 million the year prior.

The rest of the year has been marked by other developments for the company, including achieving the Esquema Nacional de Seguridad Certification for Spain and for having its intelligent Master Data Management SaaS selected by UnionBank of the Philippines, a leading universal bank in that country.

Last year, the company announced a new suite of cloud data management services in collaboration with Amazon Web Services Inc., with a goal to streamline cloud data management services. In November 2023, the company teamed with Microsoft Corp., announcing a set of jointly developed integrations between Informatica’s Intelligent Data Management Cloud and Microsoft’s Azure cloud ecosystem.

All told, Informatica’s approach to AI-powered metadata management represents a significant advancement in how organizations handle and derive value from their data, Strechay and theCUBE research analyst George Gilbert wrote in a recent article. By integrating AI across all stages of the data lifecycle, Informatica enhances its product offerings and empowers its customers to manage metadata and data more effectively.

“[That paves] the way for the intelligent data platform, data products and data apps,” they wrote. “As we continue to dig into what the next intelligent data platform looks like, how composable they are and what the reference architecture is ideally composed of, we will continue to break down the vendor speak into actionable insights.”

The use cases in Informatica’s approach to data management and methodologies for database operations, sustainability and cloud modernization will be explored during the Informatica World event, from May 20-22. TheCUBE will provide full coverage of the event to capture all the breaking news and provide analyst-driven commentary. You can follow theCUBE’s wall-to-wall coverage for firsthand insights.

TheCUBE event livestream

Don’t miss theCUBE’s coverage of the Informatica World event on May 20-22. Plus, you can watch theCUBE’s event coverage on-demand after the live event.

How to watch theCUBE interviews

We offer you various ways to watch theCUBE’s coverage of the Informatica World event, including theCUBE’s dedicated website and YouTube channel. You can also get all the coverage from this year’s events on SiliconANGLE.

TheCUBE Insights podcast

SiliconANGLE also has podcasts available of archived interview sessions, available on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify, which you can enjoy while on the go.

SiliconANGLE also has analyst deep dives in our Breaking Analysis podcast, available on iTunes, Stitcher and Spotify.

Guests

During the Informatica World event, theCUBE analysts will talk with industry experts about developments and innovations in the enterprise computing community, including advancements in AI architecture and cloud modernization.

(* Disclosure: TheCUBE is a paid media partner for Informatica World. Neither Informatica, the sponsor of theCUBE’s event coverage, nor other sponsors have editorial control over content on theCUBE or SiliconANGLE.)

Image: SiliconANGLE