Sales-configuration software lets manufacturers of complex products, such as PCs, quickly determine which parts will work together and how much a finished product will cost. J.D. Edwards has an internally developed configurator, but analyst Harry Tse of the Yankee Group says it's rudimentary. The Premisys configurator has a graphical interface and can generate 3-D technical drawings that display the entire configuration process-features that are lacking in the J.D. Edwards product.

J.D. Edwards will make both configurators available to customers, depending on their requirements. The Premisys product should be integrated with the rest of the J.D. Edwards application suite within six to 12 months, says William Goodison, a VP of worldwide sales and marketing at J.D. Edwards. The two companies don't currently have any customers in common.

J.D. Edwards has consistently articulated a strategy of "build, buy, or partner" to improve and extend its product suite. In the case of the Premisys acquisition, customers think the company made the right move.

"I think it was positive for J.D. Edwards to invest in Premisys rather than doing all the development in-house," says Dan Wark, VP of operations at Pericom Semiconductor Corp. in San Jose, Calif. "This way, the product gets to market faster."

Pericom is implementing J.D. Edwards' manufacturing, distribution, and financial applications. Wark says he plans to look at sales automation once he gets the manufacturing application running in the next four to eight weeks.

Future Development
Yankee Group analyst Tse says, "J.D. Edwards bought Premisys for its underlying technology," and he predicts the vendor will focus all new development on the Premisys configurator rather than on its own. Tse also says J.D. Edwards will ultimately turn the configurator into an electronic-commerce tool so customers' clients can configure products over the Web by themselves.