Managing Automation - October 2008 - (Page 8)

INDUSTRY NEWS FULL COVERAGE MA NEWSLETTER TO SUBSCRIBE GO TO OF EVENTS AND ANALYSIS WWW.MANAGINGAUTOMATION.COM managingautomation.com Alliances, Executive Appointments, Mergers & Acquisitions, Products news For the maonline in perspective BY JEFF MOAD Record APPOINTMENTS Systems Integration Market Braces For a Wave of Consolidation The Automation Federation tapped Paul B. Goodson as managing director. Datalogic Mobile designated Gary Glaser vice president of sales and marketing for the Americas. Clayton Reed joined Omnitrol Networks as vice president of sales. RedTail Solutions, Inc. named Bob Gleason president and CEO. Software AG appointed Holger Friedrich to the Management Board with responsibility for global professional services. Stratasys, a direct digital manufacturing and rapid prototyping system maker, hired former Boeing Co. senior manager Jeff DeGrange as vice president, new business development in Direct Digital Manufacturing. I CONTRACTS Korea-based SK Engineering and Construction selected Honeywell to design the integrated process control system for an oil and gas expansion project in Kuwait. Lightblocks is using Epicor Software Corp.’s Manufacturing software to increase efficiency. Continued on page 11 n the wake of news that Indian systems inAt the same time, other Indian systems intetegrator Infosys Technologies plans to grators vowed to step up their acquisition acquire a high-profile European integrator, activities. Top executives of Wipro Ltd. and consolidation among systems integration Satyam Computer Services — which has companies providing enterprise application imbought six small systems integration compaplementation services is likely nies over the past three years to accelerate, experts said. — publicly said their companies That coming consolidation, would consider launching more however, won’t significantly and larger acquisitions. And drive up integration services Infosys CEO Senapathy costs paid by manufacturing Gopalakrishnan publicly said companies, in part because of the proposed purchase of Axon continuing high levels of comwon’t be his company’s last bid petition and the expected ento expand operations in Europe trance of new suppliers from through acquisition. emerging low-cost countries. The latest round of acquisiInfosys’ planned $753 million tion activity and talk represents acquisition of U.K.-based SAP an acceleration of an existing Infosys CEO Senapathy services provider Axon Group trend, experts said. Systems inGopalakrishnan Plc, announced in late August, tegration providers in India and quickly stimulated a round of intensified merger elsewhere have been buying each other up for a and acquisition activity, particularly among while, said AMR Research analyst Dana Stiffler, Indian-based systems integrators. In September, motivated by a desire to boost their global footIndian systems integrator HCL Technologies prints and fill out their service offerings. Two was believed to be considering a counter-bid for years ago, for example, Wipro acquired a small Axon, at a 15% premium over Infosys’ offer. European systems integrator called Enabler for HCL declined to comment on the rumored bid. $52 million. And last year, Dallas-based Affili- RFID Market to Top $9.7 Billion by 2013 The total RFID market is expected to increase to about $9.7 billion by 2013, a compound annual growth rate of 13%, according to a study by ABI Research. The expansion will be driven, in part, by long-term RFID commitments and investments by large companies in various vertical industries. “All across product categories and flavors of RFID technology, market trends continue to be positive. We saw a strong finish to 2007, which continued into a healthy 1Q 2008,” said ABI Research Director Michael Liard. For example, European aerospace manufacturer Airbus announced a commitment to RFID technology for upcoming projects throughout its supply chain and assembly operations. Sam’s Club in January announced its RFID customer compliance program for retail CPG manufacturers in the United States, and Metro AG is pursuing RFID supply chain applications in Europe and Asia. Also, the U.S. Department of Defense issued a request for proposals for passive UHF solution components. The popular uses for RFID include closed-loop applications and asset management. NUMBERS RFID Systems Revenue by Product Category Total for All Applications CAGR (2008-2013) – 13% $5,295 million 2008 2013 Source: ABI Research $9,739.5 million ma BY THE 8 2008 October http://WWW.MANAGINGAUTOMATION.COM http://www.managingautomation.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Managing Automation - October 2008

Managing Automation - October 2008 Contents Take 1 Systems Integration Market Braces for a Wave of Consolidation Kinaxis Launches Program to Lure i2 Customers Patent May Give Mobility a Needed Shot in the Arm New Group Aims at More Efficient Smart Devices Solar, Life Sciences Will Be the Next Frontier For Robots Notes Cover Story:�2009 Companies to Watch Special Report:�Siemens plus UGS: Is the Merger Working? Transformation:�Driving Energy Efficiency Integration: How Clean is Your Data Industries:�Fed Raises Red Flag on Chemicals Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - October 2008

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