NETSUITE ACCELERATES VERTICAL STRATEGY WITH AGREEMENT TO ACQUIRE PROFESSIONAL SERVICES AUTOMATION SOFTWARE LEADER OPENAIR
San Mateo, CA and Boston, MA -- June 2, 2008 -- NetSuite Inc. (NYSE:N), a leading vendor of on-demand, integrated business management software suites, today announced that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire OpenAir, Inc., a leading provider of on-demand Professional Services Automation software.
All 56 OpenAir employees are expected to become NetSuite employees and continue in their current roles upon close of the acquisition. In addition, NetSuite will establish an East Coast headquarters in OpenAir's Boston location, and will continue to invest in the current OpenAir software solutions for a minimum of ten years. OpenAir customers will not be required to migrate to NetSuite products.
This acquisition brings together two of the industry's leading providers of cloud computing business applications . Just last month, OpenAir's professional services automation software won the 2008 Software and Information Industry Association (SIIA) CODiE Award for "Best Business Software Solution." Since 2002, NetSuite has been a leader in creating business management software applications designed for specific industries. NetSuite's acquisition of OpenAir will accelerate development of NetSuite's products specifically designed for services companies, particularly project-and-time-based organizations in markets such as professional services, business and IT consulting, legal, accounting, and government contracting.
In addition to continuing to develop OpenAir's current offerings on a stand-alone basis, later this year NetSuite and OpenAir will integrate their existing solutions via web services. Over time, OpenAir's industry-leading features will be added to NetSuite's ERP / CRM / Ecommerce suite, giving services-centric companies the option of deploying a seamless, end-to-end, on-demand business management software suite.
"OpenAir is the leader in on-demand Professional Services Automation Software, and its customers absolutely love the products. We are excited about leveraging OpenAir's industry knowledge and customer insight to create the next generation of cloud computing business applications for Services Management," said Zach Nelson, CEO of NetSuite. "The Services Industry is one of the fastest growing in the world, and the combination of NetSuite and OpenAir will enable us to accelerate our time to market and deliver a feature-rich, fully-integrated, on-demand suite specifically designed for time-and-project based companies."
"The services market is in need of a major business application revolution not unlike the paradigm shift that took place in high-end manufacturing with the emergence of SAP and fully-integrated ERP systems. By combining OpenAir and NetSuite, we now have the resources to fully execute on our vision and transform the way Services-based companies operate," said Morris Panner, CEO of OpenAir. "Our customers require integration with their back-office systems, and by combining forces with a leading provider of on-demand ERP suites, we can bring the seamless end-to-end automation for which modern services-based businesses are clamoring."
"The combination of NetSuite and OpenAir is the holy grail of business systems for a services company. I always thought the OpenAir solution would benefit greatly by incorporating broader business functionality to manage a services business," said OpenAir customer Jeff Greenberg, Managing Director, Prevalent Networks. "Now the combination of NetSuite and OpenAir could replace my aging and limited ERP systems with the same robust, yet easy-to-use functionality I get with OpenAir."
The merger is subject to customary closing conditions. Closing is anticipated to take place in June 2008.
About NetSuite
NetSuite Inc. is a leading vendor of on-demand, integrated business management software suites for small and midsized businesses. NetSuite enables mid-market companies to manage core business operations in a single system, which includes Accounting / Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP), Customer Relationship Management (CRM), and Ecommerce. NetSuite's patent-pending "real-time dashboard" technology provides an easy-to-use view into up-to-date, role-specific business information. For more information detailed about NetSuite's Professional Services Automation solution please visit Netsuite-Services-Edition-Brochure. For more information about NetSuite visit BlueBridge One>NetSuite
About OpenAir
OpenAir is a leading provider of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) services automation management software. Offering both Professional Services Automation (PSA) and Project Portfolio Management (PPM) solutions, OpenAir provides project-based organizations and firms the tools they need to help grow their businesses quickly and profitably. Providing enterprise-level functionality for businesses of all sizes, OpenAir has more than 40,000 active users across 300 world class firms utilizing the software to better capture billable time, manage projects and resources and bill customers. Coupled with a team of highly experienced consultants from some of the world's leading services firms, OpenAir PSA and OpenAir PPM can help drive higher profits through improved utilization, visibility and data collection. To learn more or schedule a demo, please visit www.openair.com . |
