It didn’t get the same dog-eat-dog coverage that Microsoft has been receiving, attempting to acquire Yahoo! Research, unlike Search, isn’t sexy. But we all lean on it one way or another.

The acquisition of JupiterResearch by Forrester Research tells us that in a downturn, especially when things are not looking great for the economy, research matters.

Forrester knows how to make numbers relevant. It reports on things like “Ideas that influence buyers and markets” and all things related to marketing and strategy. To many of us in marketing, Forrester and Jupiter were the archetypal ‘frenemies’ — you liked the fact that they competed hard; there was no either/or.

This comes through from a post by Jupiter analyst, David Schatsky: “We have not always seen things the same way, and we have scoffed at times at some of Forrester’s market forecasts and bold pronouncements on the future. But Forrester has a lot of smart people, and has gotten a lot right. And they have executed their business strategy masterfully.” Frenemy talk.

Interesting fact: Jupiter was in the social media scene long before Forrester. When Forrester’s Charlene Li (who has since left the company) started a blog in 2004, research director David Card had this to say: “But Forrester is about a couple years behind Jupiter Research on the weblog front. Some of the Jupiter analysts have been writing weblogs since 2002.”