Sep 26 2016
Watching the US Software-as-a-Service construction collaboration space, I recently discovered another startup – San Francisco, California-based BuildBinder – targeting the construction project management sector. (Despite the similarity of names, I don’t think it has any connection to another Californian business, close-out documentation specialist Combinder, which I covered in April 2016; I have also written a few …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/09/buildbinder-cims/
Sep 05 2016
Silos (both company and IT) have long inhibited collaboration in construction. Newforma’s ‘Connector’ strategy seeks to break them down. I recently wrote (16 August: Newforma now playing cloud catch-up?) about Newforma’s Cloud Services initiative, which has seen the vendor expand its extranet-type capabilities, complementing its original core on-premise, behind-the-firewall application. I spoke last Thursday to Newforma CEO …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/09/newforma-gets-connected/
Aug 16 2016
It’s over 10 years since my first posts about US-based construction provider Newforma, and during the intervening decade the company has executed a gradual, but now almost complete, about-turn. In June 2006, Newforma was dismissive of cloud-based applications: senior executives described project extranets as “digital landfills” and insisted that we now call Software-as-a-Service had no traction in …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/08/newforma-now-playing-cloud-catch-up/
Jul 21 2016
In an echo of an earlier US/UK acquisition in the construction IT space, ERP vendor Deltek has acquired UK project management software vendor Union Square. Mostly, ExtranetEvolution focuses on Software-as-a-Service solutions and related applications in the architecture, engineering and construction sector. However, I do keep an eye on vendors whose software solutions occasionally either compete …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/07/union-square-acquired-by-deltek/
May 19 2016
Nothing to do with computer gaming, GamePlan is a US start-up exploring both lean construction and BIM-based collaboration. In devising its product, US-based startup GamePlan (headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware) has consciously tried not to copy existing SaaS construction software providers’ approach to collaboration. While its core platform offers many of the same features, its philosophy has been strongly guided …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/05/gameplans-aim-lean-collaboration/
Apr 23 2016
Combinder is solely focused on close-out PDF documentation, providing an alternative to SaaS collaboration vendors offering O&M compilation tools as part of a wider system. The compilation of operation and maintenance information for handover to the owner/operator of a built asset used to involve retrospective collation of large volumes of documentation, with much of the …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/04/combinder-targets-close-out-documentation/
Apr 01 2016
Texas-based SaaS drawing management startup Rollout is branching out into collaboration hardware launching a portable interactive display system, PaperLight. At the turn of the century, when most of the current crop of Software-as-a-Service construction collaboration technology vendors were just starting out, a common objection to the use of online systems was that users preferred paper – …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/04/rollout-rolls-out-paperlight/
Mar 21 2016
While Conject reassures its customers, competitors (past and present) react to Aconex’s acquisition of the Europe-based SaaS collaboration vendor. After the 17 March 2016 announcement of Conject‘s acquisition by Aconex, the UK business’s managing director Steve Cooper sought to reassure the company’s SaaS construction collaboration customers and users about the business’s future. In an email (18 March), he …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/03/aconex-acquires-conject-industry-reacts/
Mar 17 2016
In the biggest deal yet seen in the construction SaaS market, the Melbourne, Australia-based collaboration technology provider Aconex has acquired Munich, Germany-based rival Conject for A$96m (c. €65m or £51m or US$73.3m). Aconex announced the agreement to acquire Conject Holding GmbH earlier today, along with its intention to launch a fully underwritten placement to raise approximately A$120m …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/03/aconex-acquires-conject/
Feb 19 2016
Expect EADOC SaaS functionality to grow and extend to other Bentley CONNECT Edition solutions, says Eric Law. The November 2015 Bentley Systems Year in Infrastructure conference in London provided the perfect opportunity to get an update from Eric Law of California, USA-based EADOC, acquired by Bentley Systems in March 2015. I was also able to see …
Permanent link to this article: http://extranetevolution.com/2016/02/bentley-eadoc-expanding/
