The market for advanced planning-and-scheduling software was roiled a bit recently when one of the leaders, i2 Technologies Inc., revealed that its flagship system, Rhythm, would not be embedded in SAPs next version of its popular R/3 system.
i2 officials said the Dallas-based firm wanted to remain vendor independent so that it could pursue partnerships with other enterprise software firms, such as Oracle Corp. But another reason is that SAP AG has decided to create its own scheduling functionality.
i2 has been doing just fine without having its software piggybacked on SAPs. In the latest quarter, the scheduling software firm, which also provides systems for managing the supply chain, reported record revenues of $48 million, up 170% from a year earlier, while net income more than quadrupled, to $2.7 million versus $648,000 in the same period a year ago.
