The deal announced last October (and reported here) that would have merged Scopus Technology and Clear With Computers Inc. was dissolved on Jan. 6.
CWC, a maker of sales automation software based in Mankato, Minn., made waves in the software world last June when the company hired as president and CEO Klaus Besier, formerly president of SAP America and later CEO of OneWave, a provider of software for linking the Web to business systems. CWCs Signature Plus software helps salespeople to configure highly complex products. Some customers include General Motors, Renault, Freightliner, IBM and Compaq Computer.
Scopus, headquartered in Emeryville, Calif., makes customer asset management software, competing with Vantive, Clarify, and Siebel Systems, among others in a market that has exploded in the last two or three years.
The companies reported that the decision to end the merger arrangement was a mutual one. But manufacturing software market watcher Advanced Manufacturing Research speculated that the pair separated over "product vision, vertical focus, and differing opinions as to the value offered by CWCs product."
