Event
Summary
Since acquiring Motiva Software's product line in April, Entrada
Software has been busy crafting a new product strategy and renewing
ties with former Motiva customers. Entrada makes Kinnosa, an application
that helps complex discrete product manufacturers maintain the history
of a part through every phase of its manufacture: design, prototype, procurement,
build, test, inventory and defect tracking. Motiva marketed e-Change,
an electronic document management (EDM) tool designed for use with graphics
software like AutoCAD. The product fit is a natural one that allows
Entrada to offer a greater complement of applications for the complex
discrete manufacturing industry.
Market
Impact
Entrada
has announced significant steps toward restoring user confidence in Motiva's
e-Change and other products. Shortly after the acquisition, Entrada dedicated
a portion of its engineers and business consultants to providing technical
support and upgrades for Motiva customers. More recently, the company
extended its technical assistance program to the e-Change products, giving
reassurance to customers like Transistor Devices that might have been
orphaned had not Entrada arrived to rescue the foundering Motiva.
Entrada's
efforts to revive Motiva should not surprise long-time enterprise application
market observers. The same forces that drive ERP and SCM to consolidate
are at work in peripheral markets like EDM and product lifecycle management.
In combining Kinnosa with e-Change, Entrada hopes to capture not just
information relevant to a product's manufacture, but all additional circumstances,
contents, and events surrounding it as well.
Entrada's
move has brought it into the arena with vendors like Meridien,
Documentum, SmarTeam, and FileNet but the product-centric
information tracking capabilities in Kinnosa give it a competitive edge
in the short term. In addition, e-Change's document management capabilities
make Entrada more attractive to potential ERP and SCM vendor partners.
User
Recommendations
Motiva users should no longer worry about the future of their e-Change
installations. Entrada is demonstrating strong commitment to Motiva's
product line and substantial customer base that includes Ford,
Pacific Gas & Electric, Bombardier,
Georgia Pacific and Culligan among 200 others.
Further
proof of its commitment should appear as early as the third quarter this
year when Entrada expects to release a version that fixes many deficiencies
identified previously by Motiva customers and support personnel. An upgrade
to Windows 2000 with new CAD connectors is planned for the fourth quarter.
Kinnosa
users can obtain the Motiva product now from Entrada but will be able
to select an integrated package that includes Motiva as an EDM component
of Kinnosa in the second quarter of 2002.
In
addition to Windows and Unix-based platforms, Entrada is eager to develop
Linux versions of its suite but admits that sufficient market interest
in Linux is still some quarters away.