Everest acquired by Versata

We knew it was coming but just didn't know when. In the past couple of months, Everest's poor performance was due to the fact that they were either running out of funds or they were ready to sell the company. Well I guess we found out today. I hope Versata will inject some needed management and mind set of the old Everest and continue to grow this product into a world class product.

Here is an excerpt from Everest. You can also read down below:

Versata Enterprises Acquires Everest Software
Acquisition of Business Management Software Leader Strengthens Versata’s Enterprise Portfolio

AUSTIN, TEXAS, August 7, 2009 - An affiliate company of Versata Enterprises, Inc. (Versata), a leading provider of enterprise software solutions, announced today the acquisition of Everest Software, Inc. (Everest), the leading provider of retail and wholesale business management software. Everest’s fully integrated business application suite, Everest®, addresses the challenges of growing small to medium businesses (SMBs) by allowing them to dramatically increase their efficiency and profitability with a solution that provides a remarkably rapid return on investment. Updata Advisors, Inc. acted as financial advisor to Everest on the transaction.

Versata has almost two decades of experience partnering with hundreds of large enterprises to enhance and simplify critical IT operations. The company maintains a persistent focus on decreasing customers’ IT spending by reducing hardware and associated maintenance, leveraging open source technology, and accelerating value delivery to business customers. As one of the only companies in the industry with a focus on total cost takeout, Versata has established a reputation as a true ally to the IT department.

The company will operate Everest as a stand-alone entity with a dedicated customer service and product team. Everest joins the Versata portfolio consisting of multiple enterprise software companies acquired and integrated over the past four years. Integration will begin with implementation of Versata’s Customer Success program, designed to emphasize Versata’s intense focus on successful customer relationships and alignment of product development investments with customer priorities.

“The acquisition by Versata provides an outstanding path forward for Everest’s customers and products,” said Edwin Miller, Everest’s CEO. “In the past two years Everest grew the top line of the Company 26% while simultaneously restructuring expenses by over 50% - all while consistently improving the customer experience. Through Versata’s highly respected Customer Success program, we will continue to build upon the past two years of consistent improvement. Everest will be a stronger company and in an even better position to be a leader in the SMB space.”

Versata veteran Danielle Royston will assume a leadership position for the Versata-Everest team. “Everest has one of the best customer bases in the industry and we're excited to work with those customers to help grow their top line and help cut their costs especially in today's challenging times. We will continue to work with Everest’s customers to enhance Everest and deliver even more value to their growing businesses. Edwin Miller and his team have done a great job of building an integrated business software company and we are excited to have them as part of the Versata family.”

About Everest Software, Inc.
Everest® Software, the leading software provider for retail and wholesale business, enables companies to manage every function of their business more effectively. This fully-integrated business management software addresses the challenges of growing SMBs. Everest Software is the proud winner of numerous awards including the SIIA Codie Award for “Best Business Software Product.” For more information, visithttp://www.everestsoftwareinc.com.

About Versata Enterprises, Inc.
With a global presence covering 45 countries, Versata Enterprises solves the most complex business problems for the world’s largest organizations. Versata Enterprises comprises a number of leading enterprise solution providers, including Versata, Inc., Artemis International Solutions Corporation, Nextance, Inc., Gensym Corporation, Clear Technology, Inc., Tenfold Corporation, eCora Software, Inc., Evolutionary Technologies, Inc. and AlterPoint, Inc. Versata distinguishes itself in the software industry by focusing on customer priorities as driven by value delivered. Versata’s market-leading Customer Success Program ensures customer involvement in product decisions and business priorities and provides twice-yearly opportunities for customers to score Versata’s performance against commitments. Versata’s world-class engineering capability ensures substantive and valuable product releases, thereby ensuring customer success. Versata also offers customers the opportunity to leverage Versata’s global efficiency by offering a menu of services to help customers lower the cost of technology services across the enterprise. Versata’s relentless focus on customer priorities, coupled with an unmatched global engineering capability, provides Versata customers continuous innovation and repeatable value propositions. For more information, visit http://www.versata.com.

About Updata Advisors
Based in New York, New York and Reston, Virginia, Updata Advisors is a leading investment bank specializing in mergers, acquisitions, private placements, fairness opinions and corporate restructurings for the information technology industry. Since 1987, the firm has advised on over $15 billion in transactions for application and infrastructure software, internet, security and IT services companies. For more information, visit http://www.updataadvisors.com.

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