If you’re unfamiliar with Ventyx, it may help to know a bit about its history. I first encountered the company now known as Ventyx well over a decade ago when it was known as Indus, an industrial asset management software company (not to be confused with IndusSoft, the banking, insurance and telecom collection and customer acquisition software company). In 2007, Indus was acquired by Vista Equity Partners, which had previously acquired MDSI mobile data solutions in 2005. These acquisitions set the stage for a combined software and mobility provider rebranded as Ventyx in 2007. With its new name, the company continued its work in the power, gas and water utilities sectors, ultimately leading to its acquisition by ABB in 2010.
That’s when things got a bit quiet. Following the ABB acquisition of Ventyx, I expected to hear quite a bit about the company. However, very little news about the company was reported until recently as ABB began making more announcements about its positioning in the market and the role in that positioning of its recent acquisitions, such as Ventyx and Thomas & Betts.
According to Ventyx CEO Jeff Ray, the company’s quietness over the past year came as result of spending the past year “listening to customers” to better direct product development for the oil & gas, mining & minerals and energy industries.
After Ray came onboard with Ventyx a little over a year ago, the company underwent a massive refocusing of its software offering. “We’re out of the custom software business,” says Ray, explaining that the reason for this is that “the moment you install it [custom software], it starts becoming irrelevant.”
Explaining Ventyx’ move away from customizing software, Ray says, “We each have unique demands, but we also have lots in common. We all want to improve return on asset investments, increase security, improve productivity, improve safety and improve the customer experience.” Ray adds that the four-to-five year return on investment model that was commonplace in the enterprise software space a decade ago is “no longer acceptable. Companies need immediate returns; in less than one year.” All of these factors played key roles in moving Ventyx away from customizing its software for specific customer uses.
Looking forward, Ray notes that several controversial issues have been resolved for the technology industries. “The wars are over,” Ray says. “Mobility wins, BYOD wins, dashboards are clearly needed, and the cloud will play a key role.”
As for the company’s relationship with ABB, Andy Bane, Ventyx’ Chief Strategy Officer says, “We’re owned by ABB, but we have to be agnostic in terms of what our software works with.”
Jens Birgersson, head of ABB’s Network Management business unit, says, “The lines between Ventyx and ABB will be blurred. Customers will drive where we go.” Clarifying how ABB and Ventyx will serve the oil & gas, mining & minerals and energy industries, Birgersson says, “Operations over big geographic areas will be served by Ventyx. On a local or factory level it will be ABB.” He adds that “all ABB data can be aggregated by Ventyx and Ventyx can leverage ABB products, such as historians.”
“There’s very little overlap really” says Bane. “Asset management in control and automation is complementary to what Ventyx does. ABB actually wants to bring Ventyx in front of its customers they know could benefit from Ventyx software.”
Read other Automation World coverage of the Ventyx World 2013 event:
