Friday, October 3, 2008

InterSystems portfolio reaches four products

By Christopher Calnan

After 25 years of selling one product, Cambridge software maker InterSystems Corp. this week launched its third new application in five years.

Intersystems launched a business intelligence software called DeepSee as the 30-year-old software maker continues to expand beyond its core product of database software, said Paul Grabscheid, the company’s vice president of strategic planning.

Business intelligence software is a natural progression from database software, taking advantage of the information gathered and enabling customers to analyze it, he said.

In 2003, Intersystems, which was founded in 1978, introduced only its second product, an integration software package. In 2006, it launched a health-care industry software product.

However, 90 percent of Intersystems’ business comes from its database software, called Cache. About 80 percent of  its customers already operate in the health-care industry, Grabscheid said.
Intersystems, which employs 750 workers, reported $229 million in revenue last year and projects $275 million this year, he said.

BI software extracts data to enable users to make better business decisions. Last year, the BI market reached $4.9 billion globally, a 10.5 percent increase over 2006, according to Gartner Inc.

The industry’s top-three pure-play companies are France’s Business Objects SA (acquired by SAP AG early this year), Canada’s Cognos Inc. (with U.S. offices in Burlington and which was acquired by IBM Corp. early this year) and North Carolina’s SAS Institute Inc. Local competitors include Waltham’s Oco Inc. and Burlington’s Kalido Inc.

BI software isn’t the end of the line for InterSystems, Grabscheid said. “In this business, if you’re standing still, you’re dying,” he said. “It’s not an environment that tolerates inactivity.”