Back when a handful of companies had a lockdown on banking technology in the mid 1990s, a small upstart called Digital Insight launched to provide an alternative, particularly to small financial institutions. That upstart was eventually subsumed by Intuit.

But with the close of the sale on Aug. 1 of Intuit Financial Services, the derivative of that upstart, the “Digital Insight” brand is back, courtesy of private equity firm Thoma Bravo, which agreed to purchase IFS for slightly more than $1 billion last month.

There’s significance in the Digital Insight brand name, which is (impressively) not lost on its new owners. (See the company’s new logo above.) DI quickly became both a startup and an established player and was, for a time, arguably the most forward-thinking banking technology company in the industry. For example, DI, perhaps more than any other banking technology, was responsible for the widespread advent of online banking.

Here’s what Thoma Bravo said about the choice to revert back to the DI brand:

“After a thorough branding study, we chose a name that honors the history of Digital Insight, a brand synonymous with delivering value to financial institutions,” said Jennifer Lewis, vice president of marketing. “Still, this is not the old Digital Insight. It’s a company with some of the newest, flexible, service oriented architecture and a cloud-based infrastructure; industry leading mobile solutions; rich data sources that empower financial institutions to meet their customers unique needs; and— perhaps most important— an innovative and customer-driven company. Our new logo and brand visuals are designed to convey these strengths.”

Lewis should not be too concerned that industry insiders will think it is the old Digital Insight. Just taking DI out from under Intuit’s thumb will do that.

In closing on the transaction, Thoma Bravo released two important data points about Digital Insights, which is headquartered in Menlo Park, Calif:

• Digital Insight’s digital banking platform has 11 million users; and
• Its mobile banking suite has more than 4 million users.

What is unsettled, however, is how Digital Insight will operate with another Thoma Bravo investment, Hyland Software. Thoma Bravo purchased Hyland in 2007. While Hyland, which provides enterprise content management software, has been expanding into healthcare, it remains a player in financial services technology.

Requests for comment on Digital Insight and Hyland have yet to be answered by Thoma Bravo.