Frank O Smith, senior contributing editor
Articles
Service simplified: Axeda merges with Questra; promises next-gen remote service software
Axeda very recently consolidated its position as leader in the small but growing remote product services (RPS) market by acquiring No. 2 vendor Questra. The buy seeks to push Axeda into the nascent smart services market.
Electric avenue: Zero Motorcycles revs up S&OP with SaaS-ready BI
Zero Motorcycles is all about what’s changing—from its patented battery technology, electric bike design, and lightweight materials to its hybrid direct sales/independent reps go-to-market strategy. And just like its high-performance bikes, the two-year-old company is racing to add to the product line to extend market reach in 2009.
Almost business as usual: Software AG upbeat despite global economic crisis
Software AG executives were upbeat at the company’s Innovation World 2008 user conference in Miami this month, with recently announced third-quarter operating profits up 50 percent, reflecting in part the successful integration of its $546-million webMethods acquisition in summer 2007. They also were uniformly consistent in their message that they are well positioned for growth despite the global economic downturn.
Centralization first: For Coca-Cola Enterprises, standardized printing bubbles up with Lean opportunity
In a time when companies are seeking to leverage every opportunity to reduce costs, Lean's core tenets are delivering big benefits in unexpected places. For Coca-Cola Enterprises (CCE), printing touches business-critical processes in plenty of places: pick lists in the warehouse, interbranch transfers, and shipping documents. A centralized printing management initiative reaped millions in savings for CCE's green-minded managers.
Central monitor: Licensing solution simplifies asset management in SAP, other software deployments
Acresso Software (formerly Macrovision) says its License Manager for the SAP Business Suite helps companies using SAP reduce their license requirements by 30 percent. That’s a significant amount given that an enterprisewide SAP system represents the top one or two technology investments that an organization will make over a 10-year period, according to Cambridge, Mass.-based Forrester Research.
The right move: Siemens PLM achieves strong first-year gains
Siemens’ $3.5-billion acquisition of UGS in May 2007 was viewed by some as a potential reordering of the product life-cycle management (PLM) market. At the same time, it raised speculation about how well the newly created Siemens PLM software unit would fair inside a traditional industrial hardware company. One year later, consensus at the recent Siemens PLM media and analyst briefing, held in Boston May 20-21, strongly validated the move.
Qualcomm wireless connectivity services let OEMs build out smarter machines
OEMs for industrial and other type machines are beginning to appreciate the opportunity to differentiate their offerings in the market by embedding intelligence in their products, as well as the means to communicate over vast distances to enable greater product uptime and service. Companies like Gardner Denver, John Deere, and ABB are turning to Qualcomm for assistance in providing the wired a...
Oracle says it will leapfrog competitors in manufacturing intelligence
By now it seems ancient history, but SAP's acquisition of Lighthammer in 2005 marked a sea change in attitudes toward integrating plant operations with the business enterprise. Lighthammer was one of the first software vendors to develop a solution for enterprise manufacturing intelligence (EMI). These solutions aggregate data from diverse plant assets and, once combined with enterprise transac...
Customer confab: SMBs set to slash marketing costs using SaaS research model
A new partnership between business and customer intelligence vendor Vantedge and market analytics specialist AbsolutData brings together senior-level professionals who know how to manage in-house intelligence services. Now an on-demand services model is on tap for small and midsize businesses (SMB).
RFID Roundup: New tag technology developments reap operational benefits for some; see a national security-based boost for others
In the latest RFID news, tags from Alien Technology are allowing dairy products leader Daisy Brand to move beyond supplier mandates and reap benefits in its own operations and customer service, while tag vendor MIKOH is boosting tag security in partnership with the U.S. National Security Agency, and Impinj is mastering directional movement on tagged items.