"IT must transform itself to deliver knowledge to grow the business," declared Charles Wang, Computer Associates’ CEO at a press conference regarding Computer Associates (CA) acquisition of PLATINUM technologies. Wang broke down that creation into two important components: intelligent analysis and visualization. "We will help convert vast amounts of data into knowledge using Neugents and neural technologies, and PLATINUM’s data warehousing solutions." He added that since a Web user’s experience while visiting a site can spell the success or failure of that site, the newly-combined company will make use of CA’s 3D interface "to clearly convey the knowledge distilled from that data."

"An intelligent infrastructure will deliver results and that’s why we acquired PLATINUM," says Wang. "[PLATINUM data warehousing] products will ride on top of CA’s framework."

As to the accounting details of the deal, CA made a tender offer for all outstanding shares of PLATINUM’s stock for $29.95 per share in cash. The offer was effective until 12:00 midnight New York time on Thursday, May 27, 1999. Shareholders who did not take advantage of the offer by that time had their PLATINUM shares automatically converted into the right to receive $29.95 in cash from CA for each share. It is the largest transaction ever in the software industry.

CA President and COO Sanjay Kumar says that existing PLATINUM products will be supported "as-is" for several years and that future PLATINUM endeavors will have complete access to CA’s R&D resources. He adds that some PLATINUM long-time products will not be re-branded, while others may have the moniker "CA" appended on. Kumar adds that while there was some 90 percent redundancy between the administration arms of the two companies, there is approximately 10 percent in R&D. "Every developer who wanted a position [at CA] was offered one." He adds that the combined company should employ over 21,000 people by the end of 1999.

Asked to describe the direction of the new company, Kumar says, "We will be very much more involved in real-time e-commerce. You can view us as a software company that’s very outcome driven."

Changepoint Corporation released information confirming the significant demand for Professional Services Automation (PSA) software within the North American IT services market. According to the new market data, close to 3,000 organizations, with the potential to spend an approximate total of $3.3 billion on software for IT service delivery management, were identified as companies likely to seek this type of specialized software to operate more efficiently.

Changepoint commissioned high-tech research and consulting firm Kinetic Information to define and approximate the size and spending habits of this emerging market of PSA software for IT services. The study examined the total number of IT professional services organizations significant enough in scale to require integrated business management solutions. The core markets defined by Kinetic Information included large internal IT departments, IT consulting companies, software development companies and services divisions of high-tech product vendors.

While 10,683,002 IT organizations were identified as potential buyers, Kinetic Information applied market sizing characteristics (considering each company’s size, maturity, experience and related need) to further refine its estimation of the PSA software for IT services market. Approximately 1,200 internal IT departments, 1,200 IT consulting companies, 250 software companies and 1,800 high-tech product vendors were identified with the potential to spend an average of $1.1 million each for business management software.

For more information about Kinetic Information, visit their Web site at www.kineticinfo.com. For a detailed copy of the PSA market findings or for more information, call (416) 920-9000, x 289, or visit www.changepoint.com.

Electronic business is now a key driver for technology purchasing decisions, and a new market is emerging for products and services that enable the integration of critical business applications across multiple enterprises, according to Giga Information Group. This Internet Application Integration (IAI) market reflects the changing nature of corporations today, which are becoming part of multi-enterprise business processes that include integrated supply chains, trading groups and virtual companies.

"The Internet is driving a redefinition of the boundaries between enterprises and their critical business applications," says Mike Gilpin, a vice president covering application development and integration for Giga Information Group, at GigaWorld IT Forum. "Instead of focusing on enterprise application integration, or EAI, which deals mainly with the integration of critical business processes within an organization, companies must now look to integrate critical processes across multiple enterprises, using the Internet as a backbone."

IAI solutions must enable not only Web-based applications, but also integration with legacy and packaged applications. IAI solutions impact the architecture of computing platforms, systems, networks and application software that link critical business processes together across multiple organizations. In short, IAI represents a new approach to developing and integrating business-critical applications for connected enterprises.

Bluestone Software Inc. announced that the company has completed a third round of financing for $25 million from the investment community, including some notable investment firms. Deutsche Banc Alex. Brown served as the exclusive placement agent in connection with this private equity financing. For more information about Bluestone, call (609) 727-4600, or visit www.bluestone.com.