Intergraph CEO to step down

Intergraph is holding its user conference this week in Las Vegas — rescheduled from May when flooding in Nashville cancelled so many events — and, by all reports, it’s going well. All Points Blog, from Directions Magazine, is covering the event and reported that Intergraph CEO Halsey Wise will step down at the close of acquisition by Hexagon. Division presidents, John Graham of Security, Government & Infrastructure and Gerhard Sallinger of Process, Power and Offshore, will remain with the company and report to Hexagon CEO Ola Rollén. During his presentation, CEO Rollén reiterated his intention to tightly integrate his acquisitions “at the code level”. This has always made sense for the GIS brands — integrating Geomedia (one of Intergraph’s GIS brands) with ERDAS’ imaging solutions will strengthen both offerings. But the most interesting part of All Points’ coverage is that Mr. Rollén cautioned everyone “not to think like a geospatial geek” because he sees geospatial as one of many technologies in Hexagon’s portfolio that can be combined with others. No plans have been announced, but we can envision solutions for smart grids, security monitoring and, in the process and power domain, smart monitoring of process plants. Intergraph’s PDS and SmartPlant plant design solutions have long been integrated with Leica’s point cloud technology but could now benefit from plant monitoring solutions enabled by Hexagon’s sensor technology. All Points also reported that Intergraph CEO Halsey Wise said that all of the approvals necessary from U.S. and European security exchanges had been received, and that it is now seeking government approval. The transaction is expected to close on October 1. Hexagon itself issued a press release giving a more cautious timeline, saying that “financial consolidation is estimated to take place in the fourth quarter of 2010.” It also “reiterate[d] Hexagon’s intentions of continuous commitment and investment in Intergraph’s vision, solutions, customers and employees… [and] confirms Hexagon’s intent to support Intergraph’s product roadmap and to further invest in research and development.” We’ll have to see what this really means. Will the efforts to integrate “at the code level” detract from or be added to the R&D plans already in place at PP&M and SG&I? From the SG&I perspective, integration with ERDAS will enable it to more readily compete against ESRI. But for PP&M, integration with sensor technology will benefit its owner/operator clients; but what about the EPCs who rely on its design tools?