Far Eastern software component reseller GrapeCity has been making headlines after agreeing to acquire Microsoft development and authoring tools specialist ComponentOne. Building on a successful strategy of localizing products for the Japanese market, GrapeCity's portfolio in recent years has also been bolstered by the purchase of analytics company Data Dynamics and spreadsheet component specialist FarPoint.

Having already worked alongside ComponentOne for almost a decade in a partnering role, this strategic acquisition gives the company a more impactful leverage point to influence presence on Europe and the United States compared to its other more Far Eastern-focused technology developments.

Interestingly, the difference between the Far East Asian market and that of the West is that while best-of-breed tools are often identified as the must-have sales USP in the former; here in the West, it appears to be a question of a software vendor's ability to evidence a full suite of software that will set it apart from another competitor.

All products sold outside of Japan by GrapeCity will reportedly retain the ComponentOne as a result of the company's previous reputation for brand strength.

For reasons not fully specified, the Japanese company is said to have had a "hard time" successfully branding and selling GrapeCity as a brand for a software company — a logic hardly borne or upheld out by the success of other fruit-themed IT company names including Apple and Orange.

ComponentOne is known for its success in developing and selling a range of Visual Studio components; some of the best known include grids and charts. The Wijmo package of UI widgets has also been noted as a best seller among its product range as well as a number of components for ASP.NET, WinForms, and Silverlight.

GrapeCity will now look to work internally and examine what interoperability links it is able to establish with its new total stable of technologies with ComponentOne on board.