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(Source enr.com - Date 3/23/03)

By Judy Schriener

(A shorter version of this story appears under the title "Product Manager Gets Industry Ally" in the Nov. 12, 2001, issue of ENR, p. 25.)

Germany-based Hochtief AG has invested in Meridian Project Systems Inc., Folsom, Calif. In a separate agreement, Meridian has forged a sales arrangement with both Hochtief and its Dallas, Texas-based Turner Corp. to use Meridian’s project management products, including Prolog Manager and Web-based ProjectTalk.

The parties agreed to not reveal the amount invested, nor say if it is more or less than the $13 million Summit Partners invested in Meridian in July 2000.

Meridian founders John Bodrozic and David Towert retain majority stake and product control in the privately owned company, says Bodrozic, adding that Hochtief's investment is "not insignificant but not hugely extravagant."

Hochtief's search for a project management partner began after it acquired Turner in 1999. It took nine months and involved field people and business units in Germany and the U.S., says Uwe Krüger, Hochtief senior vice president. The companies looked at "a wide spectrum" of firms, "then Meridian turned out to be the best product that especially our field people felt filled their needs best," he says.

Steve Reiter, chief technology officer of Turner, concurs. "This was a pull from the people in our business units," he says. "When you pick technology-based solutions, you often have trouble bringing that to the people who use it. This was the opposite. The demand for standardizing on a project management tool came out of our field operations. We have a very strong group of business people who said this was their product of choice."

Hochtief's investment will not result in Hochtief or Turner guiding development of Prolog or ProjectTalk, insist executives at all three companies. "It's totally, totally market driven," says Bodrozic. "We decided not to press any particular development needs to Meridian and to make sure they are servicing the entire market and not just Hochtief. Otherwise it will result in a noncompetitive product in the near future," says Krüger.

Turner had been close to standardizing on Prolog Manager and ProjectTalk last year. Now both companies are naming the products as their project management tools of choice and several pilot projects are under way.

Meridian launched a German version of Prolog in August and will open a sales and service office in Dusseldorf, Germany. The venture probably will be called MPS Europe, Bodrozic says. "There's a possibility that we will develop a German version of ProjectTalk. We haven't made the decision yet," he says.

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