Industry Consolidation: Tracking The Tech Shakeout
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.