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    1. Industry News

    Meridian Systems Optimizes the "Plan, Build, and Operate" Life-Cycle

    Oct. 11, 2004
    Expanded corporate strategy targets Infrastructure Lifecycle Management (ILM) market and adds Facilities Management to software line-up in 2005
    FOLSOM, CA (September 29, 2004) — Meridian Systems, an enterprise solution provider for optimizing real estate, construction, and other physical infrastructure programs, is expanding its software strategy to pursue the Infrastructure Lifecycle Management (ILM) market. ILM solutions allow organizations to manage the "plan, build, and operate” processes for market segments dependent on physical infrastructure programs to deliver their core business to customers. Meridian also announced the upcoming release of a research study from IDC* (Worldwide Infrastructure Lifecycle Management Applications Market Forecast & Analysis, 2004-2008, First Look at Early Leaders that defines how real estate, construction, and facilities professionals can use ILM solutions to better align their physical infrastructure assets with corporate business objectives). According to IDC, by 2008, ILM is expected to generate $3.2 billion in software and services revenues, compared with $944 million in 2003. The potential for ILM is substantial due to many factors including, pent-up demand in industries, such as construction, that are beginning to embrace full-scale business process automation. Additionally, rapidly aging infrastructure facilities in western countries are requiring constant fixing and maintenance of underlying information systems.According to Albert Pang, enterprise applications research director at IDC and author of the study due out in October 2004, "With so much riding on the value of technology investment these days, building owners/operators, IT executives, and project managers are being forced to rethink the way they architect an underlying information system to process requests for proposals, exchange documents, facilitate scheduling and job costing, and maintain tight collaboration between contractors and subcontractors."Mr. Pang comments that "with industry estimates of more than $3.5 trillion in infrastructure projects under way globally, the pressure is mounting. The onslaught of complex infrastructure projects will undoubtedly create demand for new ILM applications, not only because these products represent a better mousetrap, but also because an integrated, simpler solution is needed to help participants better analyze, understand, and execute in the face of the staggering amounts of data coming out of their routine interactions with colleagues and business partners.”Physical infrastructure encompasses many types of strategic assets, whether it's manufacturing facilities, power plants, retails outlets, office buildings, or transportation systems. These asset owners, together with their construction and engineering partners, must manage the design to decommission process. To meet these needs, an ILM solution must provide several capabilities, including program management, collaboration and contract management, document management, scheduling and job costing, project budgeting and audit trails, change management, facilities and resource management, and maintenance management. Meridian is addressing the ILM space with its Proliance® solution which uniquely combines into one technology system: 1) project and portfolio management (PPM); 2) facilities management; 3) business process management; and 4) business intelligence capabilities. Proliance continues its PPM focus with its September release of version 2.1 that includes a Field Management module. With its new addition of Facilities Management 1.0 scheduled for early 2005, Meridian will bring to market a fully integrated solution that optimizes the “plan, build, and operate” processes of the infrastructure life-cycle.Organizations adopting ILM solutions stand to gain significant benefits from improved collaboration: reduced project schedules, cost efficiencies, and improved time-to-market for new facilities. According to Brian Sommer, vice president, Research Services of the Aberdeen Group, "A much under-served market exists for owners and operators of properties. Sadly, these firms often lose millions in top-line revenue and bottom-line profits because they cannot get critical facilities operational or renovated in a timely fashion. Coordination between owners/operators, construction firms, architects, engineers, etc. is problematic. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) estimates this interoperability problem to cost $15.8 billion annually. Two-thirds of this cost is borne by the owner/operators."ILM takes a life-cycle management approach to a project and supports collaboration across the entire project ecosystem. "Meridian has built its business around the ILM ecosystem of users, including general contractors, building owners/operators, architects and engineers, and subcontractors," said Jim Olsen, Meridian chief executive officer. "Our solution set has and will continue to support each of these groups, as they are all vital to the infrastructure management life-cycle."Meridian’s ILM strategy and corporate direction will be discussed during its annual user conference taking place next week in Orlando, FL, Oct. 3–5, at Disney’s Contemporary Resort. Moderator Scott Shuster, former ABC correspondent and McGraw-Hill contributing editor, will interview Meridian executives Jim Olsen, President John Bodrozic, and CTO David Ing during the Meridian Executive Roundtable on Monday, Oct. 4. Go to (http://www.meridiansystems.com/events/IUC2004/index.asp) for more information on the conference.About Meridian Systems
    Meridian Systems provides enterprise solutions that optimize the Plan, Build, and Operate phases of real estate, construction, and other physical infrastructure initiatives. Meridian solutions are used by more than 8,500 of today’s large building owners, government agencies, and engineering and construction firms to improve top-line revenue growth while reducing their capital construction costs. Meridian uniquely provides both traditional software and hosted ASP solutions, and ranks as a market share leader in project management software among general contractors with over $100 million in revenue**. Meridian has an impressive track record of revenue growth over its 11-year history, and has been repeatedly recognized as a Constructech Hottest Technology company. Meridian is headquartered in Folsom, CA. For more information, call Meridian at (800) 850-2660, or go to (www.meridiansystems.com).

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