Atlanta, GA October 2, 2001 Viewlocity, a provider of supply chain event management (SCEM) applications, has acquired competitor Electron Economy, of Cupertino, Calif., in an all-stock transaction.
Total value of the acquisition was not disclosed. The two companies will reportedly have a combined staff of 280.
Key components of Electron Economy's adaptive workflow technology are to be incorporated into Viewlocity's TradeSync product suite, according to a statement from Viewlocity, which also said that the deal would net it a strong balance sheet, including approximately $10 million in cash.
Viewlocity CEO Jeffrey Simpson said the two company's offerings complemented each other, and that the acquisition represented "a huge vote of confidence in Viewlocity by Softbank, Electron Economy's lead investor."
Commenting on the acquisition, technology consultancy AMR Research said in a statement, "The acquisition highlights the trend and need of consolidation among SCEM suppliers."
Although AMR sees SCEM functionality eventually being incorporated into software for supply chain execution (SCE) and supply chain planning (SCP) suites, "an independent SCEM supplier can be a better source today for a system that will be applied broadly, integrating multiple applications and several partners for better visibility across the supply chain, thereby giving a means of person-directed resolution."
Concluded AMR, "Viewlocity's added potential comes from its deep integration experience to facilitate automated resolution, functionality that could be made simpler with Electron Economy's workflow technology."
Scott Hausman, Viewlocity's senior vice president of corporate development, said that the acquisition is part of the company's effort to lead the penetration of the SCEM market. "The intellectual property, customer opportunities and investors we are gaining will widen the gap between Viewlocity and suppliers that claim to have SCEM capabilities," said Hausman, who asserted that the acquisition and other recent steps by the solution provider gave Viewlocity a two-year lead over much of its competition.
While Viewlocity has been around for more than 10 years, Electron Economy is a product of the Dot-com Age, having been founded in 1999. Electron Economy's customer base had included electronics firm Sony, which tapped the provider to manage the sales and fulfillment operations for Sony's PlayStation 2 Web portal. But according to AMR, "At last count, the company had only one surviving client after the demise of several of its dot-com customers."
