Industry Consolidation: Tracking The Tech Shakeout

Sept. 27, 2006

In recent months, a number of big companies have expanded their portfolios.

The old adage that "you can't tell the players without a scorecard" certainly describes the situation within the supply chain marketplace.

In recent months, a number of big companies -- IBM, HP, Oracle, Infor -- have expanded their portfolios through strategic acquisitions of niche providers, while those same niche providers have gained thousands of potential users and customers virtually overnight. To keep it all straight, though, we've developed the following scorecard, which highlights significant corporate moves in the supply chain technology sector since June 2006. We'll update this scorecard as often as necessary.

Company/Product	Parent Company	Transaction Type	Technology
Applied Logistics Inc.	Fluensee	name change	RFID software
BlueCube Software	RedPrairie Corp.	acquisition	retail optimization
Cerebra Inc.	webMethods Inc.	acquisition	semantic metadata management
Demantra	Oracle Corp. td>	acquisition	supply chain planning
eBridge Solutions	Order Logistics Inc.	acquisition	supply chain collaboration
Extensity	Infor	acquisition	performance management
FileNet Corp.	IBM Corp.	acquisition	content management
Intuitive Manufacturing Systems	Made2Manage Systems Inc.	acquisition	ERP
Mercury Interactive	Hewlett-Packard Co.	acquisition	business technology optimization
Mindflow Technologies	Emptoris	acquisition	supply chain planning
MRO Software Inc.	IBM Corp.	acquisition	asset and service management
Onyx Software Corp.	M2M Holdings Inc.	merger	customer relationship management
Pinnacle Distribution Concepts Inc.	HighJump Software	acquisition	transportation management
Systems Union Group	Infor	acquisition	performance management
TransDecisions Inc.	Servigistics	acquisition	fleet management

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.