Veteran US technology company Compuware has acquired Irish business software company SteelTrace for US$20m in cash. The company’s shareholders include SteelTrace employees as well as investors Trinity Venture Capital, Net Decisions and Enterprise Ireland.
SteelTrace was established in Dublin in 2000. The company’s business requirements management tool enables all business and technology stakeholders in a software company to work collaboratively to understand, define, communicate and manage application requirements.
It is understood that all of SteelTrace’s 15 employees will become employees of Compuware. This includes the company’s Dublin development team and US sales and services team.
SteelTrace’s strategic marketing manager Katherine Lucey explained: “Development cycles are quickening from start to finish and that’s the value proposition for Compuware. The acquisition reflects the evolution of the software lifecycle tools market, where companies are looking to offer tools across the activity and lifecycle of a new product.”
SteelTrace’s major shareholders include Trinity Venture Capital, Enterprise Ireland, Net Decisions and its employees.
“The incorporation of SteelTrace’s technology into Compuware’s portfolio is a tremendous tribute to the software, its development team and the company as a whole,” said Brian Caulfield, investment director with Trinity Venture Capital.
“As investors we see this step as the further progression of SteelTrace’s strong market proposition and look forward to significant growth in the market deployment of SteelTrace.”
Detroit-based Compuware was established in 1973 and serves some of the world’s largest IT organisations, including more than 90pc of Fortune 100 companies. The company employs nearly 8,000 people and had fiscal year 2005 revenues of more than US$1.2bn.
By John Kennedy
