Customers using the most widely installed ERP application for HP 3000s got more than the promised update about InterBiz’s Transition plans for the software early this month. They got a new owner, at least at the top of the food chain, when CA sold off InterBiz to SSA Global Technologies, Inc. for an undisclosed amount. The acquiring company, rescued from receivership itself a few years ago, posted $130 million in revenue last year. In addition to MANMAN, SSA purchased the customers and technology of InterBiz Logistics, InterBiz Online, InterBiz Reports, KBM, Masterpiece/Net, MasterPiece/Net HRMS, MAXCIM, MK Logistics, MK Manufacturing, PRMS and Warehouse BOSS. The new owners of MANMAN already have their own ERP application to sell, BPCS, which SSA says is “a flexible ERP platform that easily integrates with strategic partner applications to deliver e-commerce, business intelligence, customer relationship management (CRM) and supply chain solutions.” It’s available on HP and IBM Unix platforms, AS/400 servers from IBM, and Windows NT; its Version 8 includes an XML-based browser interface. Analysts said the sale of InterBiz was a good thing for CA, since it was shedding itself of a business outside its core competency.

InterBiz was formed in 1999 from several software product groups within CA. InterBiz told customers in February it would trade any of four of its other ERP solutions to HP 3000 MANMAN sites in an even license swap, then added it would study the prospects of porting MANMAN/MPE to a Unix platform and report to the customers in early April. Those plans are now under review at SSA, according to company spokesperson Maria Diecidue. About 700 employees became part of SSA Global’s operations, for the moment; consolidation is expected among the staff of the two firms, since SSA already has 900 employees on its rolls.