InformationWeek

January 12, 1998

Platinum To Bolster Process Management

$70M deal to provide greater integration

latinum Technology Inc. has agreed to acquire Learmonth & Burchett Management Systems Inc., a leading vendor of process-management solutions. The stock deal, valued at $70 million, will not only strengthen Platinum's offerings in this area, but will also give LBMS customers a clear path for integrating their process-management systems with broader solutions in life-cycle application development.

"We looked at LBMS technology and would have bought it, if not for the lack of product integration," says Stan Hansen, a senior business consultant with Paccar Inc., a $4.6 billion truck maker in Bellevue, Wash.

LBMS's seven process-management tools, sold under the Process Engineer name, will be integrated into Platinum's Process Continuum suite within 90 days of the acquisition's approval by regulators and shareholders, expected by the second quarter. By midyear, Platinum plans to release a version of Process Continuum that will include the LBMS Process Engineer generating project schedules, says Ed Miller, senior VP of application life-cycle solutions at Platinum, in Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.

In addition, information about the process and projects will be shared in a common Oracle database. Tighter integration will follow soon after, Miller says.

The deal will also add about 30,000 LBMS users to Platinum's process-management customer base of about 10,500.

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