Expanding Market Presence
August 14, 2009
There are a number of ways technology providers can team up in an effort to bring new technology capabilities to the construction industry. In some cases, companies merge to combine solutions and expand market presence. In other situations, solution providers join forces with service and consulting companies to bring their solutions to a more specified group of users. This week, the construction industry saw a little bit of both.
Xora, www.xora.com, Mountain View, Calif., and Gearworks, www.gearworks.com, Eagan, Minn., announced a merger, combining their products and now servicing more than 16,000 customers, including professionals in the construction, government, transportation, and healthcare industries, among others. The company will operate under the Xora name.
According to Jeanine Sterling, senior industry analyst, mobile and wireless communications, Frost & Sullivan, www.frost.com, Palo Alto, Calif., this merger positions the company in the growing handset-based mobile resource management market, due to the extensive product line and broad carrier coverage.
The combined suite of products will include Xora’s GPS (global positioning system) TimeTrack and Gearworks’ Field Force Manager, etrace, OnCare, and Appmosphere. The company will work with a broad range of wireless carriers including Sprint, www.sprint.com, Overland Park, Kan., Verizon, www.verizonwireless.com, Basking Ridge, N.J., and AT&T, www.att.com, Dallas, Texas, among others.
For construction companies, this means Xora will offer an extensive line of products for mobile resource management.
In other news, Dexter + Chaney, www.dexterchaney.com, Seattle, Wash., announced an alliance with HardHat Technologies, www.hardhattechnologies.com, Conyers, Ga.
HardHat Technologies is a provider of construction technology services in the Southeast. The company markets and services products including Microstation from Bentley, www.bentley.com, Exton, Pa., and Prolog and Proliance from Meridian Systems, www.meridiansystems.com, Folsom, Calif.
Now, the company will market Dexter + Chaney’s Spectrum to heavy/highway and general contractors. With HardHat’s local presence and Spectrum’s accounting, equipment management, and document imaging capabilities, the companies are extending the technology to the Southeast.