Client-server modeling tools vendor Select Software Tools Inc, Santa Ana, California, has bought itself an application development toolset, Systems Engineer, from the still-shrinking, now US-based Learmonth & Burchett Management Systems Plc. Select paid $2m cash for Systems Engineer, which it will write off as a one time charge in the fourth quarter of 1996. It says users of its object oriented modeling toolset, Select Enterprise, will benefit from the addition of the Systems Engineer data modeling toolset, now renamed Select SE. Select SE will be fully integrated with Select Enterprise. Select says users have to cope with the problems of combining object-oriented applications with relational databases. They also require a transition path to bring applications developed in Select SE into the world of component-based development. The company claims the integration of Enterprise and SE will provide developers with the necessary tools for both requirements. Learmonth & Burchett dumped all of its international operations last year following its Nasdaq listing and move to Houston, Texas (CI No 3,046). All its revenues now come from North America, and mostly have been from its newer Process Engineer product, rather than from Systems Engineer, which is less established in the US. Select nonetheless inherits a customer base of some 15,000, which it says will continue to be supported with product updates and upgrades for Select SE. Select says it will enhance the Select Enterprise Storage Mapping Wizard, which maps objects to relational tables, and will in future deliver new features such as 32-bit technology and facilities for reverse engineering databases with 32-bit clients. However, the company is looking to gain extra business from SE users looking to migrate to object-oriented development. Learmonth & Burchett will continue first line support of Systems Engineer in North America until April, when Select will take over.
