PTC: refreshing candor, good results
At the end of the March earnings call, we were left with a couple of questions about PTC. First, can the company improve its sales methodology -- forecasting through closing -- so that the missed opportunities that bedeviled last quarter don't continue? Second, big...
Nemetschek also sees Europe slowing
Nemetschek's earnings release today did little to calm concerns about a slide in engineering software sales in Europe, as it sees customers dealing with a projected economic slowdown. Second quarter results were good, as revenue rose 6% to €43 million to lift H1 2012...
Quickies: DDD acquires, SAP beats
It's earnings season, so there's all sorts of news coming out. Two quick items to note: 3D Systems announced that has acquired Viztu Technologies, the developer of an online platform that turns pictures and videos into printable 3D objects. DDD plans to integrate...
MuM scales back acquisitions
A quick update: German company Mensch und Maschine Software (MuM) announced today that a "solid Q2" build on the success of a "strong Q1" to lead to a "good first half of fiscal year 2012". Recall that MuM sold its distribution business last year and is now focused on...
Oracle acquires Skire for project portfolio mgmt
The big continue to get bigger. Last Thursday, Oracle announced that it was acquiring the assets of Skire, a Silicon Valley maker of capital projects management software for the process industries. I first ran across Skire about ten years ago at a Daratech Plant...
Autodesk grows socially
Earlier this week, Autodesk announced that it had acquired Socialcam for $60 million. At first, I thought it was a CAM vendor I had never heard of. But I've heard of most of them and would certainly be aware of any that could command a $60 million price tag. A second...
Invention Machine acquired, enters big leagues
I've long been fascinated by the technologies that have emerged to facilitate the innovation process and help creators find, assess and act on/reject information quickly. One of the early entrants was Invention Machine, whose semantic search technology let users...
AVEVA’s update signals all calm
AVEVA today scooped the other public engineering software companies and provided a glimpse into its business since April 1. The company says things are going according to plan. Demand from the oil and gas vertical is strong, power is "steady" and marine is "subdued"....
Q1 recap/Q2 preview: What we’ll be looking for
As we prepare ourselves for the onslaught of Q2 earnings reports, it's helpful to look back at Q1 to see patterns that (perhaps) foreshadow future results and identify areas that were causes for concern last quarter. To help with this analysis, we've created a...
Exa’s IPO muddies the waters in engineering software
A quick Monday morning check on the stock markets for those of you following Exa's IPO: Exa's market makers originally priced the share at between $11 and $13 but ultimately settled at $10 for the public debut on June 28th. That day, over 2 million shares changed...