Marcam

From Enterprise Software History

Marcam started in 1978 as an IBM partner helping customers install, implement, and customize IBM’s Mapics product. Marcam saw a glaring need to address the Process Manufacturing market, as Mapics was targeted for Discrete Manufacturing companies. Marcam’s first product, from which it gained fame and momentum, was PRISM. PRISM written in RPG, and was designed originally for the S/38, and later the AS/400.

In 1994 Marcam began developing it’s next generation product for platforms beyond IBM’s AS/400. This product, known as Protean, was written using Object Oriented Programming.

In May of 1999, facing the downturn from the Y2K crash, and many technology challenges stemming from the Proteon project, Marcam threw in the towel and sold out to Invensys, Plc, a factory automation vendor, and owner of the the well know factory automation products Wonderware and Foxboro. The purchase price was $60M.

Marcam was acquired by SSA Global from Invensys in 2004. In May of 2006, Infor announced a definitive agreement to acquire SSA Global for $1.36B.