Merger mania in the enterprise resource planning market is now hitting the smaller players, with San Diego, California-based DataWorks Inc agreeing to acquire privately held C-Way Systems Inc of New York for its advanced planning and scheduling software for manufacturers. DataWorks will take on all the outstanding common stock of C-Way in exchange for DataWorks common stock and cash tied to future performance rates. C-Way was founded by production scheduling software pioneers Dr Richard Conway and Dr William Maxwell, ex Cornell University senior professors, back in 1985, and the two will stay on to head up DataWorks’ advanced planning ad scheduling efforts. C-Way’s primary product is the PRS production reservation system, developed by Conway and Maxwell in the early 1980s with backing from Hewlett-Packard Co’s Labs and General Motors Inc. Last year DataWorks acquired the Interactive Group (CI No 3,267), forming a company with combined revenues of around $147m. It has been concentrating on the Windows NT market. Losses for 1997 totaled $804,000.
