Has Consolidation Made the PLM Market More Agile?
P.J. Jakovljevic & Jim Brown - October 22, 2003

Event Summary

While the race for the pole position in the still evolving, moving-target product lifecycle management (PLM) market started several years ago, two notable players have recently decided to leapfrog the competition by joining complementary forces. Namely, early in August, Agile Software Corporation (NASDAQ: AGIL), a San Jose, CA-based provider of PLM solutions with historical strength in the high-tech and electronics industries, announced it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire, Eigner (www.eigner.com ), a German provider of PLM solutions to the automotive, industrial equipment, aerospace and defense (A&D) industries, for an undisclosed consideration comprised of stock and cash. Agile and Eigner expect to complete the acquisition as quickly as possible. Agile hopes that the addition of Eigner's industry expertise in automotive supply chain, industrial machinery, and aerospace and defense to Agile's capabilities in life sciences, consumer products, electronics, and high technology, will makes the combined company a dominant player across all key discrete manufacturing verticals, and will help the company fully recover from the slump it has been in for some time...