Comergent Buys New Piece To Demand Chain Puzzle

Demand-chain software vendor Comergent Technologies said Monday that it has acquired Profile Systems in a pure stock transaction. Profile has more than 30 licensed customers and more than 1,000 subscribers to its software for managing product-related data and handling vendor-managed inventory. The two closely held companies did not disclose the purchase value.

Comergent, Redwood Shores, Calif., offers a variety of software products aimed at the sell-side of the demand chain. Comergent's software enables customers to present a catalog of products, optimize pricing by order size and delivery deadlines, submit proposals and check on order status. Comergent has focused largely on the automotive, electrical and consumer packaged goods industries.

Based in West Springfield, Mass., Profile provides licensed and hosted versions of its two software packages: One automates inventory replenishment, the other aggregates and standardizes product-describing data -- such as SKUs, pricing, and marketing materials -- from across disparate systems. Profile plays in the same arenas as Comergent, as well as the government and surgical-product markets. It also gives Comergent a strong presence in Canada.

"We've looked at 40 or more companies over the year, with deep dives on five or six, and most of those companies have been seeing their business going down," said Jean Kovacs, president and CEO of Comergent. "Profile was refreshing because it built a growing product and customer base during the downturn."

Comergent said it will retain all of Profile's nearly 30 employees and West Springfield office.

Tom Mescall, Comergent's senior vice president of marketing and business development, said Comergent will meld the new functions into its software. "The first level of development will be integration points between our applications, and later this year we will make a common platform," said Mescall.