VAR500 Roundup: Accenture Makes A Move, Lockheed Martin Wins A Deal, And More

The Action Never Stops

Accenture made a move to better position itself in the automotive and manufacturing services market, while IBM built a health care system for a Chinese hospital.

Cerner got a new CEO because its former one went to Trizetto, and Lockheed Martin is working to make everyone's travels a little safer.

Accenture Acquires Acceria

Accenture (2010 VAR500 rank: 5) bought Acceria, a private company based in France that specializes in providing business processes and methodologies dedicated to the after-sales operations of industrial companies. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The acquisition is designed to complement Accenture’s strength in providing services to the automotive and industrial manufacturing marketplace globally and further enhances Accenture’s capabilities in management consulting. The acquisition includes Acceria’s staff and assets which provide innovative business solutions intended to help companies improve and sustain after-sales performance.

IBM Teams With Peking Hospital To Improve Patient Care

IBM (2010 VAR500 rank: 1) and Peking University People’s Hospital have built an evidence-based, patient-centric care (ePC3) system to enable cooperation and resource sharing among medical services providers for improved patient care. The ePC3 system is a part of IBM’s health-care efforts in which IBM researchers and scientists collaborate with medical practitioners to develop new technologies and business processes to improve patient care. IBM last week announced a major initiative, valued at $100 million, which will leverage IBM's expertise in system and information integration, services research, cloud computing, analytics and other emerging scientific areas to help physicians to develop patient-entered health-care systems.

’As the Chinese government is trying to address the issue of isolated and disparate systems located across hospitals and medical centers, we are excited to participate in the ePC3 project which we believe can contribute to China’s efforts in health-care reform,’ said Dr Thomas Li, (left), director of IBM Research – China and Chief Technology Officer, IBM Greater China Group.

Cerner Gets New CEO ...

Matthew Swindells, (left), will join Cerner (2010 VAR500 rank 56) as a senior executive in Cerner's global organization.

Swindells has nearly 20 years of health-care, technology and policy experience. Swindells most recently served as a group managing director of health at Tribal Group where he built one of the largest and most respected advisory and professional service businesses supporting health-care provision in the United Kingdom. During his tenure at Tribal, the company's health revenue and profit more than doubled.

... Because Trizetto Got Cerner's

TriZetto Group (2010 VAR500 rank: 110) has named Trace Devanny, (left), former president of Cerner, its new chief executive officer, effective July 19. Devanny also will be appointed to the board of directors.

"Having been part of a leadership team that enjoyed tremendous growth at Cerner, I look forward to helping TriZetto capitalize on the many new growth opportunities it has created," said Devanny in a statement. "This is a truly unique time in the health-care industry, and I see tremendous opportunity to leverage TriZetto's unique industry assets and positioning. I see a company that is poised to move aggressively on its Integrated Healthcare Management strategy and to significantly improve health care."

During the past 10 years at Cerner, Devanny led the company's five-fold expansion in revenue.

Lockheed Martin Refines Wireless Traffic Communications System

Working with the Department of Transportation, Lockheed Martin (2010 VAR500 rank: 9) will refine and validate the requirements and architecture of a new communications infrastructure, named IntelliDrive, which will ultimately permit safety and traffic systems to communicate. The 15-month contract is valued at approximately $2.6 million. Leveraging the potentially transformative capabilities of wireless technology to make surface transportation safer, smarter and greener is the goal of the DOT's IntelliDrive system.

"This program leverages our extensive experience in developing wireless network architectures," said Jim Quinn, vice president with Lockheed Martin's Information Systems and Global Solutions-Defense.

The IntelliDrive system would rely on an active safety system that involves sensing and messaging not only between vehicles, but also between vehicles and outside elements.