Deal Beat

Volume 12 - April 2006

Recent Acquisitions
Recent Business Deals

RECENT ACQUISITIONS

Symantec acquires IMlogic

Symantec has agreed to acquire instant messaging security specialist IMlogic.The deal it is expected will allow Symantec to build products and services that integrate IM security and archiving tools into its existing messaging security and compliance portfolio.

Microsoft to acquire UMT

Microsoft has announced plans to acquire UMT, software and consulting firm that offers project and portfolio management products. Post the acquisition Microsoft will integrate UMT's technology into its Office Enterprise Project Management solution, based on based on Microsoft Office Project Professional 2003 and Microsoft Office Project Server 2003.

Nortel Networks acquires Tasman Networks

Nortel Networks has acquired Tasman Networks Inc., a provider of enterprise-level routers in an all cash deal valued at approximately $99.5 million. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of 2006, Post the acquisition, Tasman’s IP routers will be incorporated into Nortel's convergence products and marketed as part of the company's Secure Router line.

Actuate Acquires Performance Soft

Actuate Corporation has acquired privately-held Performance Soft, a provider of Performance Management Solutions software and services. The induction of Performance Soft’s Performance Management applications into Actuate’s Enterprise Reporting Application platform will augment Actuate’s suite of accountability solutions.

Unica Acquires Market Soft

Unica Corporation a provider of enterprise marketing management solutions, has acquired Market Soft Software Corporation, a privately held provider of lead management and event-detection solutions, Under the deal Unica has paid $7.25 million in cash, and assumed specified liabilities, to acquire the assets of Market Soft, including its technology and customer contracts. The addition of Market Soft's event-detection and lead management capabilities will augment Unica’s solutions in the enterprise marketing management space.

Tata Interactive Systems (TIS) acquires 2 software companies

Tata Interactive Systems, the global e-learning arm of the Tata group acquired two European software companies. The acquisition of the two companies namely Tertia Edusoft AG in Switzerland and Tertia Edusoft Gmbh in Germany. The acquisition comes close of the heels of the launch and consolidation of TIS operations in Japan and will enhance its global footprint to include the US, Canada, UK, Australia, NZ, UAE, Japan, SA, Indian and mainland Europe markets

Quest Software Acquires Aftermail

Quest Software a provider of application, database and infrastructure management solutions, has acquired After Mail Limited, a privately held provider of enterprise e-mail intelligence solutions. Under the terms of the acquisition, Quest acquired all of the outstanding shares of After Mail for a cash payment of approximately $14.7 million plus potential performance-based consideration of up to $30 million in cash over three years. The acquisition expands the e-mail platforms supported by Quest Software’s archive solution from purely Microsoft Exchange to heterogeneous enterprises using IBM Lotus Notes, Novell GroupWise, Send mail and other SMTP-based systems.

IBM acquires Micromuse

IBM has acquired Micromuse, a developer of network management software in an all-cash transaction valued at $865 million. Micromuse's products monitor network data traffic as well as Voice-over-IP (VoIP) and video systems in large-scale environments.

Oracle acquires two security software companies

Oracle has acquired two privately held companies, Thor Technologies and OctetString in an effort to bolster its offerings for the fast-growing security software market. The deals are the latest for the company and in line with its strategy of leading the consolidation of the business software industry as customers rein in new spending. The acquisitions will help Oracle compete against rivals such as Computer Associates, IBM and Sun Microsystems in the market for identity management security software.

Ciber exits from JV with iGate

Ciber Inc of USA has exited from Ciber India Pvt. Ltd, a joint venture (JV) with iGate Solutions, transferring its 51 per cent stake to iGate which held 49 per cent of the equity in the JV.

VeriSign to purchase CallVision

VeriSign, is purchasing CallVision, a privately held company specializing in electronic presentment and payment software as well as CRM-based applications designed to help customers analyze their bills. The acquisition, which will cost VeriSign millions, should provide the company with the ability to offer technologies that will benefit service providers and other enterprises that use VeriSign's Commerce Suite. CallVisions suite of electronic bill presentation, payment, and customer self-service applications are designed to reduce the confusion and simplify the process of combining and analyzing information.

Hitachi Consulting acquires BI and CPM provider

Hitachi Consulting has acquired BI and CPM solutions provider Navigator Systems, Inc., Founded in 1992 and serving clients across the US, Navigator Systems is a recognized leader in BI Competency Center and integrated Corporate Performance Management consulting. Its client list includes company such as Builders FirstSource, Compass Bank, GameStop, Neiman Marcus Group, Sabre Holdings, and Southwest Airlines. With this acquisition they now have more than 1,000 employees in the US serving key global and mid-tier clients. Hitachi is building on the double-digit revenue growth experienced during the last three years, and the strong base of skills and experience to fuel its global expansion.

Teledata: buys US and Thailand based firm

Teledata Informatics has acquired 100 per cent stakes in US-based Daan Consulting and Thailand-based Netsol Technologies Company. The $1.5 million Daan Consulting provides IT consultants and services to meet critical project deadlines, implementing ERP solutions or applying complex technologies to deliver high value business services. Netsol is an information technology consulting and services company with a turnover of $3, 00,000 in the last nine months.

DNV acquires ProNavis AS

DNV has acquired the Norwegian software and consulting company ProNavis a provider of solutions for ship owners and yards. ProNavis solutions support the process of establishing and maintaining specifications, enabling extensive collaboration within the company as well as with sub-contractors. The acquisition of ProNavis AS will provide DNV Maritime capabilities to provide existing and new clients with process support while improving the quality and commercial performance of early project phase activities.

Oracle Acquires TempoSoft

Oracle has acquired the intellectual property assets of TempoSoft, a workforce management software vendor based in France This acquisition augments Oracle Retail’s enterprise retail suite and capitalizes on significant retailer spending on workforce and task management software applications.

Microsoft to Acquire media-streams

Microsoft has agreed to acquire media-streams.com, a software company based in Switzerland that develops communications applications based on voice over Internet protocol (VoIP) technology. Microsoft plans to apply media-streams.com’s capabilities to accelerate the delivery of its unified communications vision, bringing together various modes of communication (e-mail; instant messaging; short message service; voice/telephony; and audio, video and Web conferencing), breaking down the silos of communication and extending the unified communications experience to information workers.

Zensar acquires OBT Global

Zensar Technologies has acquired the New Jersey-based SAP services provider, OBT Global and its Indian subsidiary in Hyderabad, OBT has 162 employees and has a six-year track-record in SAP implementation, support and helpdesk services. With the acquisition Zensar hopes to strengthen its capabilities in Enterprise Resource Planning and particularly in SAP.

HP to Acquire Trustgenix

HP has agreed to acquire Trustgenix a provider of federated identity management solutions. Post the acquisition, HP plans to integrate Trustgenix and its software solutions into the HP OpenView management software portfolio. The deal builds on HP's recent acquisitions of companies like AppIQ and the recently announced agreement to acquire Peregrine Systems that round out the management capabilities of HP's enterprise portfolio.

Wipro acquires New Logic

Wipro Technologies has acquired European System on Chip (SoC) design firm New Logic in an all cash deal valued at approximately €47 Million. New Logic is a leading semiconductor design services company with intellectual property (IP) cores for complex wireless applications like Wireless LAN and Bluetooth and has an industry portfolio of semiconductor IP’s and components in the wireless applications space. The acquisition complements Wipro’s own portfolio of IP cores and patents in wireless and wire line technologies areas, and bolsters the company’s capabilities in the space.

Wipro Acquires mPower

Wipro Technologies has agreed to acquire mPower a niche company focused on payment space for an all cash consideration of $28 million. mPower has total annualized revenues of around $18 million and an annualized EBIT of around $4.6 million and 300 employees. Wipro Technologies also entered into a strategic engagement with MasterCard International, by acquiring 100% stake in MPACT, a joint venture of MasterCard and mPower. The mPower acquisition will be part of the Global IT services business of Wipro Technologies.

Google Acquires dMarc Radio

Google has acquired dMarc broadcasting in a all cash deal valued at $102 million. The acquisition is in line with Google’s plans to create a new radio ad distribution channel by integrating the radio advertising company's technology into Google's AdWords platform.

Epicor: acquires CRS Retail Systems

Epicor Software Corporation today announced that it has completed the acquisition of privately held CRS Retail Systems based in Newburgh, NY, in an all cash transaction for approximately $121 million. The acquisition of CRS, the premier provider of merchandising and point-of-sale (POS) software solutions to the retail industry, extends Epicor’s position as the leading provider of complete end-to-end enterprise solutions to include the retail sector.

Made2Manage Systems acquires Capri Corp

Made2Manage Systems has acquired Capri Corp. The acquisition is Made2Manage Systems' third in the last 15 months. The addition of Cimnet Systems' expertise in the PCB manufacturing sector and its PCB-focused product and service offerings allows Made2Manage Systems to extend its breadth of service offerings for manufacturers. The completed acquisition further expands Made2Manage Systems' footprint in the international marketplace by adding new operations in Europe, India and Asia, including three locations in China. The deal also increases Made2Manage Systems' customer base to 2,100 manufacturers worldwide and its employee base by 50 percent.

Oracle Acquires 360Commerce

Oracle is purchasing privately held 360Commerce as part of its ongoing strategy to deepen and broaden its retail software portfolio through acquisition. 360Commerce is expected to continue to operate as a mostly sovereign entity inside the Oracle Retail business unit. 360Commerce and Oracle share many common customers already, including major retailers like Home Depot, Circuit City, and The Gap. Oracle recently acquired Retek, ProfitLogic, G-Log, and, most recently, Temposoft. Unlike SAP’s acquisition of Triversity in September which gave SAP its first definitive store system, 360Commerce gives Oracle a second, and more scalable, Point-of-Sale (POS) application to complement its existing POS and multichannel retailing product that Oracle gained with the acquisition of Retek, which it in turn gained from Chelsea Market Systems in 2002.

Coda acquires German IT services firm

Financial software company Coda has acquired German IT services business bAs GmbH to extend its reach in the region. Coda is also looking to further expand in Germany and central Europe, on the back of acquisitions in France, Sweden and Estonia. It means that they can provide direct support and excellent business consulting services to customers more effectively. It also makes it easier for them to address the needs of the many large and mid-sized businesses in Germany that can benefit from a focused finance system rather than a large-scale ERP implementation. Coda has also been chosen to replace a Great Plains finance system for the Association of Train Operating Companies with its Financials product. The new system enables ATOC to report more effectively to train operators.

RECENT BUSINESS DEALS

MCI gets $593M services contract with ABN Amro

MCI has signed a contract worth 500 million euros ($593 million) over five years to provide managed IT services for ABN Amro Bank. Under the agreement MCI will manage the Dutch bank's WANs and LANs in 25 countries and provide firewall services in 60 countries, these services are currently managed in part by the bank and partly through 380 contracts with other providers.

CSC signs 96 federal government contacts in Q4

CSC has won approximately $575 million worth of U.S. government contracts in the fourth quarter alone in Federal Government Contracts. U.S. civilian agencies accounted for 42 of CSC's contract awards, with a total value of about $271 million while the Department of Defense agencies accounted for 55 awards with a total value of nearly $304 million. The agencies awarding CSC contracts include U.S. Army and Navy and the Centers for Disease Control.

Perot Systems wins $53M tech outsourcing contract

Perot Systems Corp. has won a six-year, $53 million contract with Severstal North America, a subsidiary of Russian steel maker OAO Severstal. Under the terms of the deal, Perot will provide workstation management service, data and voice network services, applications support, server and security administration and other services for Severstal. Severstal North America Inc., based in Dearborn, Mich., primarily serves the automotive, converter and service markets in North America and has about 2,000 employees.

Northrop Wins Large San Diego Outsourcing Contract

Northrop Grumman has won a major outsourcing contract potentially worth over $i Billion from the San Diego County. The contract, subject to approval from the county’s Board of Supervisors, is a major win on the state and local level for Northrop Grumman, which typically focuses on defense and other federal work. The deal includes a seven-year, $667m base period and a five-year option worth $500million and will replace the county’s seven-year, $644m contract with Computer Sciences Corp that expired in December. Under the contract Northrop Grumman will provide a range of services including help desk services, then applications, desktop and network services, and finally data center operations.

HCL bags $100 m deal from Autodesk

HCL Technologies has bagged a $50-100m multi-year contract from Autodesk to provide offshore application and data centre services. Under the contract, HCL will provide application and data centre services for business-critical IT applications, including those based on SAP, Seibel, Informatica and others for Autodesk. The agreement covers application administration, software configuration management, monitoring, maintenance, technical support, support tools and utilities implementation. Additionally HCL will also provide general infrastructure management services that include general operations and administration services, such as storage and data management, technical support and database administration. HCL won the contract in the face of stiff competition from companies like IBM, HP, Accenture and Affiliated Computer Services (ACS), besides Wipro, Infosys and Satyam.

ThyssenKrupp Awards 100Million Euro Contract to HP

HP has won a three new technology services contracts collectively valued at €100 million with ThyssenKrupp. Under the contracts, HP will implement and operate a wide area network (WAN), consolidate and manage ThyssenKrupp's email system and provide consulting services for the company's enterprise resource planning (ERP) projects. The contracts for the three individual projects will run between three and six years.

Accenture bags deal from H.B fuller

Accenture has signed a 10-year outsourcing contract with H.B. Fuller the financial details of which were undisclosed. Under the contract Accenture would provide H.B. Fuller with outsourcing services for virtually all information technology functions, including infrastructure operations and maintenance, application maintenance, systems integration, and technical help desk.

Infosys partners with Wavecom - Infosys Technologies has signed a partnership agreement with Paris-based embedded communications company Wavecom SA to address the growing machine-to-machine (M2M) wireless connectivity market. Under the agreement, Infosys Technologies becomes a Wavecom Certified Competence Center, and gains access to the Open AT, Wavecom's wireless software platform. The partnership will enable Infosys to offer design, development and integration services based on Open AT, while providing Wavecom access to Infosys' global customer base.

IBM bags $1.1 Billion outsourcing deal from Gap - IBM has won a 10 year $1.1 Billion contract from GAP spread over 10 years for the management of its IT infrastructure. Under the contract IBM will provide comprehensive infrastructure management support for GAP including support and management of mainframes, servers, networks, and data centers, as well as provide help-desk and disaster-recovery services. IBM will also provide Gap with help-desk and disaster-recovery services. As part of the deal, about 400 Gap workers are expected to be transferred to IBM.

Capgemini wins Ofcom contract - Capgemini has bagged a five-year £25m managed services deal from Ofcom. As per the contract Capgemini will take over the running of the communications regulator’s IT from 1 February 2006, overhauling its legacy systems alongside a business change programme. Close to 50 applications will be consolidated, using integrated systems including customer relationship management from Siebel and human resource, financial and procurement applications from SAP.

Lawson Signs Multi-Suite Software Contract with North Carolina City

Lawson Software has signed a multi-suite software contract with the city of High Point, N.C., The city has licensed Lawson's Financials, Procurement and Human Resources suites to enhance its reporting capabilities and promote faster decision-making by improving information sharing across departments. Lawson Professional Services will assist the city with the implementation. The city's decision to move to a consolidated Lawson system resulted from an extensive evaluation in conjunction with the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA).

Satyam Computer gets $150 Million order from GM

Satyam has bagged a $150 million contract spread over 4 years in partnership with CapGemini and HP. Satyam won all the RFPs it participated along with its partners. GM had given IT contracts worth a total of $15 billion for over five year period. Electronic Data Systems snatched the major share of $3.8 billion, and Wipro had bagged $300 million.

GEECL partners with IBM Global Services

Great Eastern Energy Corporation, India, has signed an agreement with IBM Global Services to implement mySAP business suite - SAP R/3, which would enable it to handle expanding operational requirements. The implementation would enable the company to integrate its projects, corporate and operation management into one central ERP platform. Besides, it would also ensure that the organization efficiently coordinates such core business processes such as financial, supply chain management and business intelligence.

TCS grabs lion's share of the $150 Citi deal

Citi Bank recently announced a major outsourcing deal estimated to be between $125 million and $150 million on an annualized basis. The lion’s share of the deal was won by TCS while Satyam bagged orders worth approximately $30 million on an annualized basis. The deal was structured in such a manner that Citi would pay a certain assured amount to the company, even if TCS did not execute services worth that much. This could be because TCS could be recruiting dedicated staff for Citi.

China Minsheng selects SAP, Accenture

China Minsheng Banking Corp has selected Accenture and SAP China to build its core banking IT system in one of the biggest contracts the two firms have secured in the China's financial services sector. Under the contract Accenture and SAP s, will provide loans, deposits, treasury management, general ledger and teller systems for China's first listed non-state-owned bank. Accenture had formed a global alliance with SAP about two years ago to work together on the implementation of core banking systems. It has also pursued opportunities in its own right, winning with Deutsche Boerse AG a contract last year to build a new trading system for the Shanghai stock exchange.

Accenture to integrate Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System

The Electronic Systems Center's Development and Fielding Systems Group awarded a $79.5 million task order for System Integration support to configure, deploy, and conduct training for the Defense Enterprise Accounting and Management System (DEAMS) program to Accenture. This decision follows a recent Electronic Systems Center award for the DEAMS commercial off-the-shelf software to Oracle Corporation for their E-Business financial and accounting software. As the system integrator, Accenture will be responsible for integrating DEAMS requirements into the Oracle E-Business Suite. The firm-fixed price task order was awarded through the Defense Department's Enterprise Software Initiative Blanket Purchase Agreement under General Services Administration Schedule.

Ciber to implement ERP for Denver transportation

Denver’s Regional Transportation District has signed a $13 million ERP software and services contract with Ciber Inc. Under the contract, Ciber will implement an Oracle ERP administrative information system to support the organization in managing its financial and human resources activities. Ciber will integrate Maximus software product with Oracle’s e-business suite.

Siebel bags deal from Banco de Chile

Siebel Systems has announced that Banco de Chile has selected Siebel customer relationship management (CRM) applications to consolidate its business processes onto a single branch platform and provide it with enhanced competitive advantage in the South American banking market. With Siebel CRM, the bank will leverage sales, marketing, and contact center capabilities to redesign the bank's processes in order to more consistently and effectively manage client relationships across all channels.

Suguna Poultry chooses IBM

Suguna Poultry Farm Ltd, a leading poultry company in India, has chosen IBM to implement Oracle E-Business Suite (Oracle Applications), a first of its kind implementation in the Indian poultry farming sector.

Accenture expands outsourcing relationship with Sandvik -

Sandvik, a Sweden-based global engineering company, will outsource the management of its human resource applications to Accenture under a three-year agreement. Under the terms of the new contract, Accenture will provide application maintenance and enhancement services for Sandvik’s existing PeopleSoft platform for HR Management. Technical help desk services will be provided from Accenture’s shared service centers in Sandviken, Sweden and Chicago, Illinois, and the application support and maintenance services will be provided from Sandviken and Accenture’s delivery center in Bangalore, India.

Accenture bags CNOOC contract

China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and Accenture have signed a multi-year agreement under which Accenture will help CNOOC develop and implement an enterprise resource planning (ERP) system based on SAP’s R/3 ERP solution. In addition to helping develop and implement the ERP system, Accenture will provide support to integrate CNOOC’s existing information technology systems as well as help enhance its human resource, finance and logistics capabilities.

Atos Origin wins Afip contract

French IT services company Atos Origin and SAP have won a US$3.47mn contract with Argentina's tax office Afip. The project includes the development and implementation of an integrated IT system with an enterprise resource planning (ERP) solution for Afip. Afip selected the solution mySAP ERP and other components from the SAP NetWeaver platform, all of which will be implemented by Atos Origin. The development of this project is expected to last one and a half years and the team involved includes nearly 60 persons. The contract also includes support for the system for 36 months following implementation.

ING starts outsourcing talks with Accenture

A consortium led by Accenture Ltd has seen off a rival bid from a team led by IBM Global Services, to enter into exclusive negotiations over a major IT and network outsourcing deal with Dutch bank ING Group NV. The bank is in discussions with Accenture and its partners Atos Origin SA, Getronics NV, and BT Group. A rival bid from a consortium including IBM Global Services, Unisys Corp, Centric, and KPN was rejected by ING. IBM currently manages ING's IT infrastructure in the US under a seven-year $600m contract announced in December 2003. ING's move follows a similar one from domestic banking rival ABN AMRO, which last September revealed plans to cut 1,500 internal technology jobs, transfer a further 2,000 to external vendors, and signed a total of $2.2bn in IT outsourcing contracts. It aims to make annual cost savings of 258m euros ($309m) from 2007 as a result.

Wipro wins Aviva deal

Wipro Technologies has won a deal to operate a dedicated Global Command Centre for the UK insurance giant Aviva. The remote managed infrastructure management centre will provide 24x7 remote managed services for the entire IT infrastructure of RAC, a business division of Aviva, This technology-agnostic managed services centre is expected to provide Aviva with a real-time view of infrastructure services that support critical business operations.