Some pretty big names in the supply chain technology arena have changed hands recently, including arguably the biggest of them all: i2 Technologies. During the Internet bubble days of the late 1990s, the three most successful providers of supply chain planning solutions (in terms of sales, at least) were i2, Manugistics and ILOG. Manugistics was acquired by JDA Software in 2006, and this past August JDA added i2 to its portfolio, paying $346 million for the i2 product line as well as access to i2's 400 customers, 130 of which are using both i2 and JDA solutions.
ILOG, meanwhile, was purchased by high-tech giant IBM Corp. for $340 million, as IBM seeks to strengthen its business process management offerings. And HighJump Software, another well known supply chain software company, was sold by its parent company, 3M, to private equity firm Battery Ventures when the industrial manufacturer decided HighJump would be more successful under the management of a venture capital firm.
The following scorecard highlights significant corporate moves in the information technology sector since our last update in the July 2008 IW.
Company/Product | Parent Company | Transaction Type | Technology |
Automated Design Systems' Intuitive assets | Consona ERP Inc. | acquisition | ERP software |
HighJump Software | Battery Ventures | acquired from 3M | supply chain software |
i2 Technologies Inc. | JDA Software | acquisition | supply chain software |
ILOG | IBM Corp. | acquisition | business rules management |
innotec | Siemens Industry Automation | acquisition | digital engineering software |
MacNeal Group | MSC Software | acquisition | simulation technology |
OATSystems Inc. | Checkpoint Systems Inc. | acquisition | RFID software |
OpenAir Inc. | NetSuite Inc. | acquisition | professional services automation software |
Pyxis Solutions | ITC Infotech | acquisition | quality assurance solutions |
SAT Corp. | Wonderware | acquisition | mobile solutions |
TrenStar Tracking Solutions | Fluensee | acquisition | RFID solutions |
Verayo | n/a | start-up | RFID chips |
Visiprise Inc. | SAP | acquisition | manufacturing execution systems (MES) |
See Also