Swiss engineering group ABB has agreed to acquire Obvient Strategies Inc., a specialist software provider that will expand ABB’s portfolio for for asset management, power distribution automation and smart grid applications.
This is the third software acquisition for ABB in less than a year, as the company positions itself to become a major player in the smart grid industry. In December 2010, ABB acquired Insert Key Solutions. And in May 2010, they acquired Ventyx, for $1 billion.
Obvient offers software and services for industries and utilities with geographically dispersed assets. The company’s business intelligence software collects, analyzes and reports critical real-time as well as periodic information.
As well as helping to manage complex operations, the solutions also reduce operating costs and improve asset reliability. Obvient’s products compile the power transmission and distribution sector’s best business practices into prepackaged solutions.This enables companies to monitor and manage their distributed assets more effectively, on a real-time and event-driven basis.
“The Obvient portfolio is highly complementary to our own software solutions for the power sector," said Jens Birgersson, head of ABB’s Network Management business within ABB’s Power Systems division. “It significantly strengthens our software-based solutions, enabling us to provide better service to our customers, from asset health and customer care to distribution and outage management.”
ABB plans to retain the Obvient team and place its executives in key roles within the Ventyx product management organization. The company has offices near Atlanta, Georgia, and a staff of 40.
The ABB Group of companies operates in around 100 countries and employs more than 117,000 people.
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