Tech Scorecard: The Rich Keep Getting Richer

Dec. 17, 2007

Two of the biggest names in BI have been acquired in recent weeks -- SAP picked up Business Objects and IBM acquired Cognos

Dave Blanchard

The smart money in software companies lately has been on business intelligence. Two of the biggest names in BI have been acquired in recent weeks -- SAP picked up Business Objects for $6.8 billion, and then IBM Corp. followed suit by acquiring Cognos for $5 billion (Cognos, in fact, had just announced its acquisition of analytics solution provider Applix).

In March 2007, Oracle Corp. jump-started the BI shuffle through its purchase of Hyperion. Bruce Richardson, research director at AMR Research Inc., predicts that either MicroStrategy or Informatica could be the next BI firms to be acquired as the market cap for both companies is currently over $1 billion. Other possible acquisition targets include privately-held SAS Institute and Information Builders, according to Richardson.

The following scorecard highlights significant corporate moves in the supply chain technology sector since our last update in the September 2007 IW.

Company/Product	Parent Company	Transaction Type	Technology
Applix Inc.	Cognos	acquisition	analytics
BEA Systems	Oracle Corp.	acquisition offer (unsolicited)	middleware
Business Objects	SAP	acquisition	business intelligence
Catalyst International Inc.	CDC Software	acquisition	warehouse management systems
CoCreate Software	PTC	acquisition	product lifecycle management systems
Cognos	IBM Corp.	acquisition	business intelligence
GE Fanuc	GE Fanuc Intelligent platforms	name change	factory automation systems
Global Freight Exchange	Descartes Systems Group	acquisition	electronic freight bookings
Hand Held Products Inc.	Honeywell International	acquisition	automatic ID/data collection
Integrated Support Decision Corp.	TMW Systems Inc.	acquisition	transportation decision support
Logistics Business Systems (LBS)	PTC	acquisition	logistics support solutions
Maximum Data Solutions Inc.	Accellos Inc.	acquisition	automated data collection
Printronix Inc.	Vector Capital	acquisition	enterprise printing solutions
Procuri Inc.	Ariba Inc.	acquisition	supply management
Seemage	Dassault Systemes	acquisition	product documentation
YASU Technologies	SAP	acquisition	business rules management

See Also

About the Author

Dave Blanchard | Senior Director of Content

Focus: Supply Chain

Call: (941) 208-4370

Follow on Twitter @SupplyChainDave

During his career Dave Blanchard has led the editorial management of many of Endeavor Business Media's best-known brands, including IndustryWeek, EHS Today, Material Handling & Logistics, Logistics Today, Supply Chain Technology News, and Business Finance. He also serves as senior content director of the annual Safety Leadership Conference. With over 30 years of B2B media experience, Dave literally wrote the book on supply chain management, Supply Chain Management Best Practices (John Wiley & Sons, 2010), which has been translated into several languages and is currently in its second edition. He is a frequent speaker and moderator at major trade shows and conferences, and has won numerous awards for writing and editing. He is a voting member of the jury of the Logistics Hall of Fame, and is a graduate of Northern Illinois University.