The demise of Select Software Tools Inc may spark a fresh course of consolidation in the component tools market, as companies jockey to snatch Select’s customers. The assets of the application development software house may have been acquired last week by Princeton Softech (CI No 3,673), but the clients are still very much up for grabs, and the vultures are beginning to circle.
New York-based Popkin Software & Systems Inc made its play for the unhappy modeling customers of Select, claiming that Princeton is only interested in the fashionable object oriented tools market, rather than the traditional structure analysis software development. Popkin’s software can handle object oriented development and structure analysis driven projects , enabling it to target Select’s customers worldwide. This would double Popkin’s installed base.
In the next several weeks other component tool makers, such as Rational Software, can be expected to make their own attempts to acquire abandoned Select customers, but they may have to move quickly if they don’t want to be scooped up themselves by even bigger fish. According to analysts such as Eric Brown of Forrester Research, the still relatively immature component tools is due for consolidation, and companies like Popkin will have to make strategic alliances to survive.
Brown says that customers no longer want point development solutions, they want a portfolio of products to enable their development teams to build applications. Computer Associates and Sterling Software, among others are waking up to this trend says Brown, and picking off the tool small-fry is as good a way as any of keeping their customers happy.
