skip to Main Content

InterSystems

Last Updated:
Analyst Coverage: , and

InterSystems Corporation is a privately-owned company that was founded in the USA in 1978 and it opened its first office in the UK in 1986. Revenues were nearly $700 million in 2018. Apart from North America, it has over 35 global office locations throughout Europe (including Russia and Israel), across both South America and South East Asia, and in Australia, South Africa and the Gulf. It also has distributors around the globe – InterSystems software is in use in over 80 countries worldwide.

Phillip T. (Terry) Ragon, InterSystems CEO and founder still has a very hands-on approach to his company. In part, this seems to be why InterSystems as good as it is at punching above its weight, but it is also very choosy about who it employs – technical excellence is just the start, and passion, ethics etc also matter. The importance of Ragon might imply a possible succession issue but the InterSystems management team seems to be well aware of this and tells me that it is given a lot of autonomy and is strong enough to survive Ragon leaving. Not unconnected with its popularity with the people who have actually heard of it, InterSystems also strikes us as a company that genuinely takes people issues and ethics seriously. It claims to be guided by the IRIS principle—that software should be Interoperable, Reliable, Intuitive, and Scalable.

Historically the company has largely relied on implementation partners and ISVs for its sales, with a relatively small direct sales force. While the company’s partner base remains a major strength InterSystems has also expanded its direct sales force to support large corporations that require a direct relationship and because of the HealthShare and TrakCare solutions, which provide healthcare applications for the US (HealthShare) and elsewhere (TrakCare).

We see InterSystems as focusing on specific vertical markets, which allows it to make the best use of its limited marketing resources. It invests heavily in improving its technology platform, which has a very sound basis and is often almost the only choice where ultimate scalability and performance are needed. For example, it is used to map over 1 billion stars in the Milky Way for the European Space Agency and processes more than  300,000 transactions per day for the 2nd largest shipping company in the world.

However, InterSystems is not resting on its technical laurels and its IRIS platform provides considerable “value add” services for integration, analytics and “augmented intelligence” (AI). As an example of how it is prepared to open up to new developers, it has recently announced support for Python as a “first class” language for InterSystems development. It also supports an impressive “Knowledge Hub”, with an online community, blogs, educational resources and certification programs. It is very much more than just a database with add-ons, it is a genuine data platform.

InterSystems logo

Company Info

Headquarters: One Memorial Drive, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
Telephone: +1 617 621 0600

Research

Supply Chain InPerspective (June 2024 cover)

Leveraging Data Management Partnerships for Enhanced Supply Chain Solutions with InterSystems Supply Chain Orchestrator

This paper looks in more detail at the component parts of a good data management solution, and how they can add value to supply chain ISVs and SIs.
DATA FABRIC MU 2024 (cover)

Data Fabric

Bloor’s analysis of the Data Fabric market, assessing the leading vendors and showing you who the innovators, challengers and champions are.
INTERSYSTEMS InBrief cover thumbnail

InterSystems and the Data Fabric

How the InterSystems IRIS platform plays within a data fabric architecture.
00002801 - INTERSYSTEMS InContext (cover thumbnail Eng)

Optimising supply chains in an unpredictable world with InterSystems Supply Chain Orchestrator

Supply Chain Orchestrator has been designed to enable supply chain leaders and their teams to take full advantage of a comprehensive view of end-to-end data.
00002776 - INTERSYSTEMS InContext cover thumbnail (July 2023)

Overcoming Data Challenges for Innovation in Financial Services through 360-degree Business Solutions from InterSystems

Being able to take advantage of the wealth of data they hold is a key factor in ensuring the success of innovation initiatives for financial services companies.
00002731 - InBrief INTERSYSTEMS IRIS 2022 (cover thumbnail)

InterSystems IRIS (2022)

This report examines and evaluates the InterSystems IRIS Data Platform.
HTAP MarketUpdate cover thumbnail

Hybrid real-time data processing

There are multiple ways in which databases that support real-time operational/transactional and analytic processing may be implemented. This report compares representative samples of each.
00002473 - INTERSYSTEMS InBrief cover thumbnail

InterSystems IRIS (2019)

InterSystems IRIS contains a multi-model database that stores data in multi-dimensional arrays.
Back To Top