In the somewhat insular world of product portfolio management software vendors, the loss of one competitor is a major development. So when 9-year-old Integrated Development Enterprise, Inc. closed its doors for business in August, rival software vendors took notice.
Waiting in the wings was IDe competitor Sopheon plc. The two companies signed an agreement that affords Sopheon "exclusive access to such IDe assets as its customer list, software code, and all documentation relating to the company's software," according to a Sopheon statement.
IDe had 18 active client deployments when it shuttered its operations, leaving the larger Sopheon -- with nearly five times as many customers -- an opportunity to woo those orphaned clients to Sopheon's Accolade product portfolio software. Both companies count large enterprises among their primary customers.
Under terms of the agreement, Sopheon may provide support and maintenance services to former IDe customers, though the company is not obligated to do so. "Sopheon intends to contact IDe's customers to discuss potential support options, including transitioning to Sopheon's Accolade software and services," the company said in a formal statement.
All indications are that IDe's demise owes to its failure to grow its customer base. "Eighteen customers at an average deal size of $250k (according to IDe) and 15% maintenance is not going to cut it financially in the long term," wrote Jeffrey Hojlo and Michael Burkett of AMR Research in an analysis shortly after the announcement.
According to AMR, Sopheon has fared much better of late but must move swiftly to expand in the market. Otherwise, the portfolio management specialist "risks being overshadowed by large ERP vendors, like SAP and Oracle, or PLM vendors that are slowly, but surely, recognizing the opportunity."
As specialist PLM software providers among those enterprise applications giants, Sopheon and a small cadre of competitors -- including CA, PowerSteering, and Artemis, according to AMR -- have enjoyed a niche for some time. Their alone time seems to be coming to an end, however, as the larger players look to add product portfolio management capabilities to their enterprise and product data management suites. Oracle, for instance, made a strong move in this direction with its purchase of Agile earlier this year, while Siemens entered the fray with its acquisition of UGS, and has moved its portfolio offering into its Teamcenter 2007 suite, which it released last month.
In various forms, the product portfolio management vendors offer manufacturers a systematic way to analyze and improve their new-product development process. Sopheon's Accolade product, for one, automates the Stage Gate methodology, set up to allow only the most promising and highest-quality new product ideas through to the design and fabrication stages.
This article originally appeared in the November 2007 issue of Managing Automation.