Enterprise resource planning outfit, Baan Co NV has signed a partnership agreement with component and supplier management systems developer Aspect Development Inc that will see the integration of the companies’ products. Mutual Baan and Aspect customers will have access to a product that will combine Baan’s ERP system and Aspect’s component and supplier management system. Under the terms of the agreement the companies will establish a joint development team based in India, and will re-sell rights for Baan’s sales force so it can directly offer Mountain View, California-based Aspect’s CSM products. The partnership will be phased in as a two stage process, the first stage enabling Aspect’s CSM to be accessed from within Baan’s ERP environment, which is available immediately to joint customers. The next stage will result in the seamless sharing of business data between the two systems and the development of Java-based systems. Putten, The Netherlands and Mountain View, California-dual headquartered Baan’s arch rival is SAP AG. Aspect signed a similar agreement with SAP AG at the beginning of last year to resell its manufacturing software along side the SAP manufacturing software (CI No 3,106). Aspect, which recently reported nine month net profit up 154.6% to $4.0m on revenue up 72.6% at $29.0m (CI No 3,270), is under the impression that the combination of the companies’ software will enable a next generation product that will prove beneficial to both companies’ customers.
