Editor-in-Chief and Vice Publisher, Directions Magazine
| (May 21, 2003) |
This strategy has not wavered under Preetha Pulusani's direction since she was elevated to the position as President of the Intergraph Mapping and Geospatial Solutions (IMGS) division, and she is adamant about sticking to their plans for using their products to deliver solutions uniquely suited to customer needs. But there is a difference to products offered by Intergraph in the spatial information marketplace. The core products are highly customizable and serve a business model that hinges on services and customized solutions. If you believe in the technology, Intergraph argues, then a customized implementation can be far easier than a competitive solution. The use of multiple data servers to provide a direct connection to spatial databases, modules for a specific workflows (transportation, transaction managment and others), and the ability to introduce event "triggers" through Intergraph’s “pipe technology” provides the foundation that allows customer specification to be realized.
Intergraph believes that this strategy will carry them through a downturn in information technology spending, especially by one of Intergraph’s key markets, local and state government. Financial analysts that follow the company believe it to be over capitalized and are encouraging stock buy backs. In a recent quarterly financial briefing, analysts questioned that lackluster performance by the mapping division and inquired how they intended to improve profits in markets in which they clearly do not dominate. Will they invest in other companies? Pulusani stated that this is an option that several divisions within Intergraph were considering including IMGS.
Several unique Intergraph solutions were on display including TrackForce
from the IntelliWhere division
that delivers a real-time, wireless location-based service. TrackForce
monitors events and tracks vehicles that traverse pre-defined polygons
or buffer zones and sends alerts to decision-makers. Applications in military
and homeland security were provided that demonstrate the need to track
assets in and through secure environments. Intergraph will price the service
through a license agreement based on the number of tracked objects.
In a keynote address Roberta “Bobby” Lenczowksi (pictured at right),
Technical Executive of the National Imagery
and Mapping Agency (NIMA), provided a vision for a contiguous, three-dimensional,
spatial infrastructure that will support military and intelligence customers.
NIMA will be a coordinating organization that implements a newly released
policy that continues to promote the development of a commercial remote
sensing industry (see editorial above). Directions will publish an interview
with Ms. Lenczowski later this week.
Lastly,
a special award was presented to Mr. Larry Ayers (pictured at left), formerly
both an executive vice president at Intergraph and deputy director of the
Defense Mapping Agency (the predecessor of NIMA). Ms. Pulusani presented
Mr. Ayers with the Geospatial Lifetime Achievement award for his many years
of service not only to Intergraph but to the GIS community at-large. Mr.
Ayers was previously recognized by President Reagan who had presented him
the presidential award for distinguished federal executives in 1983 and
1986 for leadership in modernizing the geographic information systems for
the nations war fighting and weapons operations.
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