Managing Automation - November 2007 - (Page 15)

news managingautomation.com maonline Go online for daily news updates in perspective service-enable most of its applications by the end of 2008 and to continue to support products such as ERP LN from acquired vendors such as SSA Global, many of which had begun curtailing enhancements. Infor’s ability to retain customers and its willingness to invest in enhancing existing products, Schaper said, belie critics’ description of the company as simply a rollup in search of a buyer. “We are not just the latest and greatest rollup,” Schaper told customers. “We are not being assembled just so we can sell the whole.” — Jeff Moad Alliances, Executive Appointments, Mergers & Acquisitions, Products “It will allow us to catch our breath and do one job for a while instead of two.” As first reported Sept. 11, 2007, on www.managingautomation.com, Infor is being forced to curtail its torrid acquisition activity because prospective private equity lenders have tightened lending practices due to the credit crunch brought on by the collapse of sub-prime lending markets. Infor, which has relied on private equity to fuel much of its effort to acquire 31 software companies over the past four years, likely won’t engage in any large acquisitions in the near future, Schaper said. Infor doesn’t expect the tight credit environment to change before the end of 2007, Schaper said, adding that the company may still pull the trigger on a small acquisition. In the near term, however, Infor will concentrate on other items on its agenda, of which there are many, Schaper said. First, Schaper said, Infor is working toward an initial public stock offering some time within the next 12 months. An IPO not only would give Infor access to additional sources of capital, but it would also raise the company’s profile. Brand recognition, Schaper acknowledged, is something with which the company continues to struggle. “It’s time for us to be considered alongside SAP and Oracle from a competitive point of view,” he said. Infor also intends to focus over the next few months on beefing up its service organization and restructuring its sales force around vertical markets, including manufacturing, Schaper said. Infor’s rapid acquisition run and subsequent growth left the company with too few internal technical support employees, Schaper said in keynote comments at Inforum. Infor plans to address that by adding 450 domain experts by the end of the year. That process, Schaper said, will probably take longer than expanding the support organization. And Infor will continue to extend and enhance existing products in a bid to reassure and retain customers. Over the past year, Infor has managed a 93% customer retention rate while adding 1,700 new customers, largely by demonstrating its willingness to invest in enhancing existing products, Schaper said. He noted that the company rolled out 87 product upgrades over the past 12 months and integrated 20 products. Future enhancements include Infor’s plan to Quote of the MONTH “[Infor is] not just the latest and greatest rollup” in search of a buyer. — says Jim Schaper, chairman and CEO of Infor For the Continued from page 10 Record FINANCIALS CAN HART, ISA GET TOGETHER ON A WIRELESS SPEC? Designcraft Inc. has used PTC Pro-ENGINEER to design the Amphibian dynamic scuba fin, made for mobility in and out of the water. Qualcomm and Microsoft’s Entertainment and Devices Div. have both deployed Kinaxis’ RapidResponse supply and demand management software. W ireless network technology is the next big thing to hit the factory floor. However, depending upon how the communication standards play out, it could be the greatest productivity enhancer or the biggest bottleneck. Remember the fieldbus wars, when multiple standards emerged and confused the market? Well, there is by no means a wireless war at this point, industry observers say, but there are two organizations — HART Communication Foundation and ISA — with two different wireless specifications. And now, the pair needs to figure out how to live together in peace. The HCF released its HART 7.0 specification in September, which includes a wireless communications protocol for transmitting data to device and sensor networks. ISA, on the other hand, is hammering out the details of its wireless standard, ISA SP100, set for release in 2008. SP100 will address control and I/O networks as well as device and sensor networks — where HART currently plays. ISA says it will include HART as a subset, but the bits and bytes between the two are not entirely compatible, which has some companies wondering why there are two standards. The HCF camp says it has been working on this wireless specification since 2004 as a natural extension of its HART protocol for intelligent field devices. ISA, meanwhile, recently began working on its wireless initiative, which covers the same territory and more. Apprion has closed a $12 million Series B round of financing to support and extend its ION System. TAGSYS, which provides RFID systems and tags, has closed $16 million in financing, bringing its total to $80 million. Supply chain management company TECSYS Inc. has announced first-quarter net earnings of $82,000 on $7.8 million in firstquarter revenue, reversing a year-earlier net loss of $174,000. M&As BI and performance management supplier Cognos has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Applix, Inc., an analytics company, for approximately $339 million. PA R T N E R S H I P S Activplant has entered a partnership with Patni Computer Systems Ltd. to provide manufacturers with performance management systems. Engineous Software has joined the UGS PLM Software Partner Program to develop, market, and sell process integration and automation technologies that work with UGS Teamcenter PLM and UGS NX digital product development software. Teradata, a division of NCR Corp., will license Infor’s CRM Epiphany Inbound Marketing software and deliver it as a component of the Teradata CRM portfolio. 15 November 2007 http://www.managingautomation.com http://www.managingautomation.com

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Managing Automation - November 2007 Contents Take 1 Mailbox SAP's Business ByDesign to Validate On-Demand Model for Enterprise SW Portfolio Management Specialist Losing Ground to Rivals At Incor, It's Time for Some Deep Breathing Can HART, ISA Get Together on a Wireless Spec? Mesa Tries to Help Improve Plant Metrics Notes Cover Story: The Digital Factory Special Report: Breaking Down Walls Integration: Dreaming of One ERP Industries: Locking onto Cyber-Security Transformation: Not Your Father's Time & Attendance Program Product Scan Advertiser Index Next

Managing Automation - November 2007

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