Managing Automation - February 2008 - (Page 11) Quote of the sense that Emerson would continue to build its strength in services,” says ARC analyst Larry O’Brien. “We expect that automation suppliers will continue to make more acquisitions like this going forward.” Emerson and other automation vendors are in a sweet spot for the foreseeable future, as manufacturers continue their technology buying spree. In another ARC report, for example, the worldwide market for process automation systems is predicted to grow at a compounded annual growth rate of 9.6% over the next five years. The market, which was nearly $30 billion in 2006, will rise to $47 billion by 2011, ARC says. Not surprisingly, Emerson is feeling the effects of all of the investment activity. “We have customers pounding at the door because they want projects done now,” Imming said. “We are growing rapidly and, as part of that, we need to expand our people base. TAG was a logical fit. They have a lot of experience and contacts [and] acquiring them expands our ability to execute.” TAG’s expertise covers a wide range of process automation technologies, including distributed control systems (DCSs), safety shutdown systems, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), human machine interfaces (HMIs), and supervisory control and data acquisition (SCADA). — Stephanie Neil Germany-based corporate culture of Software AG with the American-bred webMethods. The company has performed well on both scores, Pezzini says. “The acquisition, so far, has proved very successful. Because of the webMethods acquisition, Software AG’s relevancy in the SOA, middleware, and BPM market has grown significantly.” Which is precisely what company executives had hoped for. Software AG is working “to become the biggest independent vendor of integration technology,” says Peter Kürpick, chief product officer for the webMethods business line and Software AG board member. The integration of the two companies will be complete by the middle of 2008, according to Kürpick. Eventually, he expects revenue from the webMethods division to eclipse that of Software AG’s original database management business, growing from its current 45% contribution to as high as 70%. Pezzini says the company faces numerous challenges, including what he sees as a weak marketing presence, improving collaboration with systems integrators and software vendors, and a prudent approach to future acquisitions. In addition, Software AG must compete in an integration market that is drawing more interPeter Kürpick est every day. SAP and Oracle are both on the march with SOA initiatives, hoping to trade on their outsize name recognition to build customer bases. “I don’t think that the mega-vendors are going to drive the good applications infrastructure vendors out of business, especially around the integration technology,” says Gartner analyst Jess Thompson. Kürpick evinces little concern over the encroachments. “The more they do it, the more there is space for us,” he says, noting that more competition will likely expand the heterogeneous IT environments that demand integration. In the coming months, he says, Software AG will look to add to its integration capabilities, including technologies for rules, data integration, and modeling, And that means more MONTH “If you put yourself in play, it’s hard to do well in the marketplace.” — Rimini Street CEO Seth Ravin For the Continued from page 8 Record BP Exploration & Production signed a sixyear agreement with Honeywell for main automation contractor services at BP’s new and existing facilities. Carpet manufacturer J&J Industries selected Information Builders’ WebFOCUS to measure productivity and monitor production levels. Invensys Process Systems installed an InFusion-based enterprise control system at the ExxonMobil Port Allen lubricants plant in Louisiana. Nikon chose Kinaxis’ RapidResponse software to deploy in the fulfillment operations of its Imaging Products business. Mizuno Corp. used PTC Pro/ENGINEER to design its Mizuno MP-600 Fast Track golf driver. Supply Chain Consultants developed a scheduling solution for Mother Parkers’ coffee and tea manufacturing facility in Fort Worth, Texas. WEBMETHODS WAS JUST ONE STEP FOR SOFTWARE AG ith its December 2007 acquisition of a portion of application modernization specialist Jacada Ltd., Software AG has continued down an acquisition path that was punctuated earlier in 2007 by its takeover of IT integration provider webMethods. When Software AG announced its $546 million purchase of webMethods in spring 2007, some observers wondered whether the move would pay off. “We were skeptical when the acquisition was announced for various reasons,” says Massimo Pezzini, a Gartner vice president and distinguished analyst based in Milan. The reason for Gartner’s wait-and-see approach was an overlap of products between the two companies and the challenge of integrating the M&As AMETEK acquired privately held California Instruments Corp., a provider of AC power sources. Infogain Corp. completed its acquisition of ERP services company Spider Systems. Supply chain management vendor TECSYS Inc. completed its CDN $1.4 million acquisition of Streamline Information Systems Ltd., a Canadian enterprise applications vendor for industrial distribution. W PA R T N E R S H I P S Hewlett-Packard Japan and Apriso Corp. formed a regional partnership to support manufacturing clients in Japan. Kewill signed a reseller agreement with supply chain solutions provider ClearOrbit to sell and support Kewill Flagship enterprise shipping management software. SolidWorks Corp. bestowed solution partner product status on Elmo Solutions’ Agni Link bi-directional CAD-ERP data integration system for Microsoft Dynamics NAV, Dynamics AX, and Dynamics GP. 11 February 2008
For optimal viewing of this digital publication, please enable JavaScript and then refresh the page. If you would like to try to load the digital publication without using Flash Player detection, please click here.