Logility Inc.'s recent acquisition of Demand Management Inc. may be just the first in a series, says Logility president and CEO Mike Edenfield.
"We're still in the acquisition business," said Edenfield in an interview. "The opportunities have increased and they're going to continue increasing. There's too much technology out there for the demand and only the companies with strong financials and great customer service will survive. Demand Management wasn't in desperate straits, but there are some out there that are, and there will be more consolidation."
With the acquisition, Logility adds a product line similar to its own, focusing on supply chain forecasting and distribution requirements and operations planning. But, unlike Logility's Voyager suite, which is targeted at mid-size and Fortune 1000 companies, the Demand Management product line is sold to small and medium-size businesses (SMB). And, unlike Logility, which uses a direct sales force, Demand Management sells through value-added resellers.
Edenfield said Logility will continue to market the Demand Management products to the SMB market through its 23-company VAR network. In fact, Demand Management's reseller network was a big attraction for Logility. "In order to play in [the SMB] market, you need a distribution strategy. Demand Management has a very strong, established channel." Edenfield said Logility may attempt to strengthen and expand the reseller network in Asia.
Logility also acquires Demand Management's 800-company customer base. The combined Logility/Demand Management claims 1,100 customers in all.
Initially, Logility will focus its integration efforts on sales and marketing. Logility will pass SMB leads to Demand Management, and Demand Management will forward larger company leads to Logility.
Edenfield will consider integrating the Logility and Demand Management products. But for now, they will still be sold as stand-alone suites.
Operational efficiencies have been achieved by eliminating duplicate administrative functions. However, Demand Management president and CEO Mike Campbell remains president of Logility's new Demand Management subsidiary.
INVENSYS EXECUTIVE SETS 2005 GOALS Buoyed by a 14% bookings growth in its fiscal first quarter, Invensys Process Systems president Mike Caliel says his top three priorities for 2005 will be business in developing nations, strengthening relationships with key customers and continuing to invest in technology. In an interview at the recent ISA conference in Houston, Caliel said his unit's business activity in China "doubled" over the past year and Invensys has won several oil-related projects in the former Soviet Union. Its focus will continue to be these two regions as well as the Middle East. On the customer relationship side, Caliel cited a 10-year deal with ExxonMobil to standardize on Invensys' ROMeo optimization product, and an initiative at Tuscon Electric Power that resulted in the development of a collaborative product, called Intelligen, based on Invensys' ArchestrA integration architecture and Microsoft technology. Technology investment will be in human interfaces and engineering environments. -- David R. Brousell
NEW SIEBEL CEO UNVEILS VERTICAL STRATEGY Declaring his intention to open "Chapter Two" at Siebel Systems Inc., freshly-appointed CEO J. Michael Lawrie said he will refocus the struggling $1.35 billion vendor of CRM software around vertical industry expertise. Lawrie, who joined Seibel in May from IBM to replace founder Tom Siebel as CEO, told 3,000 customers at Siebel's User Week conference that the new vertical strategy will allow the company to get closer to its customers and move from "just delivering the best software to translating that into superior business outcomes." As part of the move, Siebel announced it will expand its services offerings to focus more on industry-specific best practices and expertise. Among the vertical industries on which Siebel will focus: Automotive, complex manufacturing and high tech. -- J.M.
GLOBAL COMMERCE SYMPOSIUM STRESSES SECURITY The urgency of increased global supply chain visibility, flexibility and, above all, security, was the theme of "Opportunities and Risks in Global Commerce," a conference sponsored by Unisys at the Chelsea Piers in New York. Panelists included former N.J. Governor Thomas Kean, chairman of the 9/11 Commission; Gene Delaney, president, global relations and resources, Motorola; and Stephen Flynn, author of "America the Vulnerable." Kean warned that the "public feels safer, but we are not safe," and we "must move faster" on security measures. "The government cannot protect us," Flynn stated, therefore, "the public and private sector must work together," said Delaney. Unisys used this opportunity to introduce a key tool in its Global Visible Commerce Solution, which gives executives near real-time views into their global supply chains. This new tool, the economic modeler, gives users greater financial visibility into the supply chain, thus increasing the value of their operations, claims Unisys. -- Debra Kelly
HP ENHANCES SMB PROGRAM, ADDS PARTNERSHIPS At the TechXNY conference in New York, HP announced it was extending its Smart Office program to better focus on the needs of small and mid-size businesses. New imaging, printing, storage and thin client products, as well as joint channel programs with Microsoft, Avaya, Intuit and SAP, have been specifically designed for SMBs, said Kevin Gilroy, senior VP, HP, SMB. Working to understand the business needs and IT challenges of SMBs led HP and other industry leaders to create joint programs providing SMBs with combined software and hardware products; compliance-tested voice-over-IP that helps reduce networking costs; bundled software; and simplified purchasing and after sales support experience. -- D.K.
EXACT CUSTOMERS URGED TO PREPARE FOR BRICS At mid-market ERP vendor Exact Software's first ever North American user conference in Chicago, its executives stressed that manufacturers need to prepare for strong, technologically-advanced competition from Brazil, Russia, India and China (BRIC). "Many of you are running very old technology, so it is not possible to compete on technology with BRICs," said Arco Van Nieuwland, VP and co-founder of Exact Software. Since manufacturers in BRIC have a later start with technology, they have been able to leapfrog U.S. manufacturers, added Jim Kent, CEO, Exact Software North America. "The first generation of technology in [BRICs] is running Windows XP," Kent said. "To compete ... you need to integrate what you already have." Exact will help customers integrate traditionally back-office ERP technology with front office and sales-force technology -- something most ERP vendors, he says, do not do very well. "We didn't go out and build a separate CRM product, we built an integrated CRM product for ERP," said Kent. -- Greg MacSweeney
NEW MANUGISTICS CEO TO STAY THE COURSE Joe Cowan, the newly appointed CEO of supply chain management vendor Manugistics Group, has outlined a number of changes he'll execute at the company, but his plan does not include selling the business. Cowan, who most recently served as CEO at EXE Technologies before it was acquired by SSA Global, has drawn attention from industry watchers who expect he'll follow the same pattern with Manugistics -- which recently reported a 14% decline in second quarter revenue compared to the prior year. "I was not brought here to pretty the pig up and sell it," he said in an interview. "Manugistics is a company with a solid foundation, and I'm focused on making money ... and then figuring out where to get additional growth." -- Stephanie Neil
HONEYWELL BUYS ASPENTECH LINE Honeywell Process Solutions will acquire the intellectual property of Aspen Technology Inc.'s HYSYS modeling software and its Operator Training Simulation business. The deal adds a more robust simulation suite to Honeywell's Experion Process Knowledge Management System (PKS), and releases AspenTech from a Federal Trade Commission (FTC) proceeding callenging the company's acquisition of Hyprotech Ltd. The FTC launched an investigation into the acquisition charging the deal was anticompetitive. As part of the deal, Honeywell will assume $4 million in accounts receivable obligations from AspenTech; a retention of a license to the Hyprotech products that provides a continuation of rights to market, sell and develop; a three-year non-compete agreement with AspenTech's operator training services; and a two-year support agreement under which AspenTech will provide Honeywell with source code to its new release of Hyprotech products. -- S.N.
GROUP SUPPORTS DEVELOPMENT OF RFID Users and vendors of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology have formed the International RFID Business Association (RFIDba), a not-for-profit trade organization that supports the adoption of RFID through education and training. A series of RFID Systems events are being organized in Brazil, Canada and the United States and will be held throughout 2005. "The RFIDba is designed to connect people together so that work can get done," says RFIDba Executive Committee member Paul Rasband, chief scientist at MeadWestvaco Intelligent Systems. Structured as a committee, RFIDba has groups focused on vertical industries such as automotive and life sciences; product technology such as passive tags, middleware and labels; special interests like Department of Defense; and functional tasks like membership and finance. -- Hallie Forcinio
NORTH AMERICAN ROBOT ORDERS JUMP 18% North American robot manufacturers saw orders rise 18% in unit volume and 10% in dollar volume during the first half of 2004, according to Robotic Industries Association (RIA) statistics. From January through June 2004, North American manufacturers ordered 7,852 robots worth $473.3 million, a 12% increase in units and 6% gain in revenue, compared to the first half of 2003. Sales outside North America were even stronger, jumping 226% to 687 units and rising 104% in sales to $39.7 million. New orders for material handling robots, the largest application area, grew 26% for the period. Strong gains also were seen in material removal and arc welding. Automotive remains the largest market, but other industries are generating most of the sales increases. "Many companies, particularly small and medium size ones, are just beginning to look at how robots can help ... solve manufacturing challenges," said Donald A. Vincent, executive vice president of RIA, in a statement. -- H.F.
COCREATE BROADENS SOFTWARE LICENSING Looking to broaden its software licensing options for customers, CoCreate Software GmbH (Sindelfingen, Germany) has announced a new, full-service subscription program, which lets companies rent its CAD and collaboration applications for a set annual fee. Companies still need to buy the server infrastructure on which to run the applications, however, by "renting" the software CoCreate is continuing to lower the entry costs for its applications. "Given the state where IT purchases are, companies are risk adverse and are trying to minimize entry costs of purchasing software," explains Todd Black, CoCreate's marketing communications manager. "To only offer a traditional license sale is becoming outdated." -- Beth Stackpole
CENTRIC SOFTWARE GETS A CASH INFUSION Centric Software Inc.'s (San Jose, CA) vision of product lifecycle management (PLM) around portfolio and innovation management has gotten a boost from a trio of venture capital firms, which recently ponied up $19 million in private equity placement. Oak Investment Partners (Palo Alto, CA) led this latest round of funding, with co-investors Masthead Venture Partners (Cambridge, MA) and existing investor Boston Capital Ventures (Boston). Centric officials say the capital infusion will aid the PLM vendor in expansion activities, specifically in the areas of sales and marketing activities, increased engineering capacity and its ability to extend its global reach with key partners. The venture capital firms cite as the impetus for their investment the ability of the Centric Innovation application suite to help manufacturers boost their ability to innovate by working as a team with an extended supply chain and by managing a portfolio of products that meet a business' go-to-market goals. -- B.S.
ARIBA SHIPS FIRST FREEMARKETS-BASED PRODUCT After completing its merger with Freemarkets Inc. this July, Ariba Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA) has shipped its first offering, The Visibility and Sourcing Solution Feature Pack features direct materials sourcing spend visibility capabilities from Freemarket, which augment Ariba's existing capabilities that were better suited for indirect materials sourcing, says Steve Markle, manager of product marketing and management at Ariba. The sourcing component of Ariba Strategic Sourcing has also been updated with Freemarket-designed functions targeted at direct materials sourcing, including Dutch reverse auctions and present value bidding, among others, Markle says. "We've reoriented our sales and solutions processes, and in the same quarter that we closed the merger, we've shipped the first release based on the merging of technologies from both companies," says Markle. -- B.S.
IEC ADOPTS MODBUS PROTOCOL AS SPEC The International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), a standards organization for electrical, electronic and related technologies, accepted the Modbus protocol as a publicly available specification (PAS) with the pre-standard designation, IEC PAS 62030. "With this positive vote, the Modbus TCP-IP profile ... is now eligible to become part of future editions of the International Standards IEC 61158 and IEC 61784-2," says Jean-Jacques Poubeau, a Modbus-IDA board member and vice president of Major Programs at Schneider Electric, the protocol developer. The specification will be reformated so it integrates better into the revision of the well-known fieldbus standard, IEC-61158 (Ed 4.0 2007). -- H.F.