I’ve been offline for a few days here in the smoky Inland Pacific Northwest (the nearest forest fire is about 20 air miles away from home; visibility some days is less than one mile). I return to my desk today to discover that not everyone thinks I’m a genius for my original analysis of the Intergraph buyout announced last week. In what might be a record number of comments appended to an AECnews item, writers seem to be popping out of the woodwork to make sure everybody knows what an idiot I am for suggesting that Intergraph’s Intellectual Property (IP) holdings were the key asset in this deal.
Far be it from me to recognize the difference between a good deal and a great deal. Intergraph with just the three software divisions (none of which leads its market) is a good deal. Nice list of clients, respectable products. I wrote all that and even took the time to expand on future possibilities. But Intergraph with three software divisions AND a patent portfolio that continues to give the computer hardware industry fits is not a better deal? Not a lusty extra golden nugget for the investors? Me thinks they doth protest too much, Shakespeare wrote 400 years ago. Today he would have said, give me a break. The gold is there, and it will continue to shine for years to come, even if only as a threat.
Just to be fair and balanced, here’s a nice article by my friends at Directions Magazine Online, that (without naming names, of course) sets everyone straight, including yours truly.
There’s more good reading than just the Randall bashing in the comments on my Intergraph piece. Some readers think AVEVA makes perfect sense as a buyer for Intergraph’s Process, Plant & Marine (PP&M) division, others see AVEVA struggling for their very life with archaic software and inept management. Again, give me a break. And could Autodesk swoop in and become a (even bigger) major force in plant design by making a bid for PP&M? Gee, who’d a thunk it last month that the happenings in the plant design software space could become the script for a soap opera?
--RSN