Washington DC, USA and Cheltenham, UK – November 10, 2009. Artisan® Software Tools, the world’s largest independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative modeling tools for complex, mission and safety-critical embedded systems and software, has acquired Extessy, a leading supplier of development tools and services for system requirements, co-simulation, integration and test, based in Wolfsburg, Germany. Artisan’s acquisition of Extessy closely follows its acquisition last month of Brass Bullet, a leading UK systems engineering consultancy.
“This is a significant next step in our ‘complex systems tools market’ consolidation program,” said James B. Gambrell, President and CEO of Artisan Software Tools. “Extessy’s offerings, vertical markets and German reach complement our existing organization and align precisely with our business plans. The real benefit of our joining together with Extessy is not just the scale it gives us, but that our joint offerings work together to help our customers Work as One. No matter how large we grow, we will remain independent-minded and flexible, positioning us particularly well for future growth.”
Extessy was founded in 2000 as a provider of software tools and consulting services for embedded system development, deriving the bulk of its business from the German automotive industry. The combined companies will significantly expand Artisan’s operations in Germany. All of the Extessy team will join Artisan, extending Artisan’s knowledge within the key automotive industry, bolstering its professional services capability and extending its global reach. As a direct result, Artisan will be moving its German headquarters from Munich to Extessy’s Wolfsburg offices, while still retaining a regional presence in Munich.
“I am extremely excited that Extessy has joined with Artisan Software Tools,” commented Bill Esler, CEO of Extessy AG. “Artisan is a highly successful and fast-growing company with an enviable reputation for providing robust model-based development tools for complex systems development. Extessy will add greatly to the solutions and services Artisan is able to offer to its customers as well as considerably expand the opportunity to continue to grow its market share.”
“We are pleased to see Artisan acquire Extessy and commit to the ongoing enhancement of its products and services,” said Theodor Staneff, Manager Product Development and System Support Control and Command Technology of Deutsche Bahn, Munich, Germany. “As a long-term Artisan and Extessy customer, we have been continually impressed by their professionalism and service quality. They appear to have bucked the trend, showing considerable growth during the economic downturn. This move is testament to the dedication and expertise of the Artisan and Extessy management teams and staff.”
The merger combines Extessy’s operating business including all products and underlying intellectual property, professional services and expertise with Artisan’s existing German operations. The product portfolio includes the EXERPT requirements interchange and management platform based on the RIF Requirements Interchange Format, the EXITE co-simulation platform and EXACT automated test and validation platform. The sizeable professional services practice focuses on system engineering process consulting, tool customization, training and product support.
“Combining Extessy with Artisan is a further step in our ‘whole product’ growth strategy to provide system engineers and enterprise architects across a broad range of industries with a comprehensive range of development solutions and services,” said Hedley Apperly, VP Marketing of Artisan Software Tools. “Extessy’s tools and services perfectly complement our existing model-based solutions for mission, safety and life-critical complex systems development, adding all-important capabilities in terms of system requirements interchange and management, co-simulation and test automation.”
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About Extessy
EXTESSY (EXperts for TESt and SYstem development) is a provider of software tools and consulting services for embedded system and software development. EXTESSY provides technologies in order to achieve the optimum quality systematically – for embedded systems, requirements management, system design, development and testing of components. EXTESSY manages complexity in development and testing. The products and services are based on leading-edge innovation: efficient with the products, committed to consulting and passionate about tailor-made solutions. Processes in the system development become more efficient, as well as time and cost investments will be significantly reduced. EXTESSY is a Member of AUTOSAR. EXTESSY is headquartered in Wolfsburg, Germany and its customers include Audi, Blaupunkt, BMW, Daimler, Deutsche Bahn, Porsche, Robert Bosch, Siemens and Volkswagen. For more information visit: www.Extessy.com.
About Artisan Software Tools
Artisan® Software Tools is the world’s largest independent supplier of industrial-grade, collaborative modeling tools for complex, mission-critical systems and software. Artisan has delivered a stable, robust working environment to thousands of users across an extensive range of complex applications in demanding sectors including military, aerospace and defense, automotive and transportation, telecommunications and electronics, and medical. Artisan’s standards-based tool suite, Artisan Studio®, provides comprehensive support for the leading industry standards, including OMG SysML, UML and Architectural Frameworks. Artisan WorkbenchTM provides a fully integrated, collaborative engineering framework for the trouble-free deployment and maintenance of best-in-class tools for mission and safety-critical systems and software development. Artisan’s tools deliver on the promise of an integrated collaborative development environment – allowing systems and software engineering teams to Work as OneTM – from concept through to delivery, maintenance and support. Founded in 1997 with extensive venture capital backing, Artisan is headquartered in the USA and UK with offices in Germany and Italy, supported by a global distributor network. For more information visit: www.ArtisanSoftwareTools.com.