There has been plenty of discussion over the last few days about "consolidation" in the web analytics marketplace due to the Omniture/Visual Sciences deal. I believe the whole notion of consolidation is really more relevant if you invest in web analytics companies, rather than use their products.

In fact, I'll suggest a different theory based on the point of view of a web analytics consumer, rather than a web analytics investor: that marketplace is not consolidating; it is in fact fragmenting, and there are plenty of options to consider if you are purchasing web analytics solutions.

Much of the consolidation discussion is based on vendors that adhere to the SaaS/page tag collection model. Readers of the Web Analytics Report know that the license and data collection model of an analytics solution often has more to do with relevance to your requirements than functionality.

To get a bit more depth about what consolidation, fragmentation mean to you, read my post on Web Analytics Management.