EXTRANET NEWS * 18 March 2002

Published Weekly

Editors: Joel Orr, N'omi Orr, Stephen Orr

http://www.extranetnews.com

 

1. Causeway

2. The List

3. Tidbits

4. Quote of the Week

 

1. Causeway

 

About five years ago, Arup structural engineer Stuart Cowperthwaite looked around for Web-based project management tools, and found none that were satisfactory. So he and his team at Arup built Integration, a powerful Web-based collaborative project management system.

 

Integration was launched three years ago, and in nine months built up $10 million in revenues, managing $10 billion in projects, with 6000 users.

 

18 months ago, Cowperthaite and Arup realized they had learned a great deal—but that this type of software was not a core competency for them. They determined to find a partner who could take it over.

 

After extensive searching and evaluation, Arup settled on Causeway Technologies. Causeway used OpenText LiveLink as their collaborative technology, which contained many features lacking in Integration.

 

“Causeway had much more than just a document repository,” said Cowperthwaite. “They had workflow technology in the form of LiveLink; construction industry experience; a good indexing engine; and good relationships with the makers of 3D viewers.” The features are extensive, and the software is highly customizable.

 

Arup partnered with Causeway to rebuild the collaborative product, Integrate, using LiveLink.

 

Phil Brown, Causeway president, said, “I had approached Arup about two years ago, pointing out that LiveLink could accelerate their progress. I met with some resistance, because Integration had just started to succeed.

 

“And we needed a good way to interact with professionals. That’s what we wanted from Arup.

 

“OpenText gave us a three-year window to sell LiveLink technology into Arup. We plan to put Causeway Collaboration on the desktop of every Arup customer,” said Brown.

 

“Since Arup and OpenText have their own offices all over the world, Causeway will be able to take advantage of them; we won’t have to open our own,” he continued.

 

Causeway (http://www.causeway-tech.com) is 100 people strong in the UK, and is cash-flow-positive. The firm’s revenues have risen 82% since partnering with Arup.

 

Our take: “Horses for courses,” they say in Australia. By allowing Arup to focus on what it does best, by using a well-developed tool like LiveLink, and by relying upon the experience of Causeway, this partnership is achieving a rare synergy. They deserve to be short-listed by any UK firm seeking collaborative software.

 

 

2. THE LIST

 

We are surprised, but somewhat gratified, that there are still no changes this week. Total companies: 234 (see who’s on The List at http://www.extranetnews.com)

 

 

3. TIDBITS

 

* ProjectShare.com announces support for Macintosh users. See http://www.projectshare.com.

 

* “AEC Intranet Cookbook” now available from ZweigWhite, http://www.zweigwhite.com. We’ll review it as soon as we can.

 

* Have you checked out CADwire? Go to http://www.cadwire.net for a daily dose of well-organized news, press releases, and commentary from Joel and his associates in Cyon Research Corporation.

 

* “The best industry event in 20 years!” agreed most attendees. REGISTER NOW: COFES 2002 - The Third Congress on the Future of Engineering Software is scheduled for May 2-5 at the Scottsdale Plaza. Spend time with industry and media leaders. Go to http://www.cofes.com to see why you really need to be there. Sponsored by Cyon Research Corporation.

 

* AIA Technology in Architectural Practice Spring Conference: Six Degrees of Collaboration

April 5-6, 2002, at AIA National HQ, Washington, DC

See http://www.aia.org/pia/tap/conference/schedule.asp for details.

 

* The American Institute of Architects 2002 National Convention and Expo; 5/09/02 - 05/11/02, Charlotte, NC.

 

* Start planning to attend A/E/C SYSTEMS 2002, Anaheim Convention Center, California, June 4-6 2002. http://www.aecsystems.com/.

 

 

4. QUOTE OF THE WEEK

 

“Look for situations where extraordinary results exist, but where no individual steps forth to claim credit. You will likely find a [great] leader at work.”

- “Good to Great,” by Jim Collins, p.37