Cleveland-based TMW Systems, an enterprise software provider to the trucking industry, said today it has acquired Integrated Decision Support Corp. of Richardson, Texas.
ISDC sells decision support software products
that help fleets optimize routing, load matching and fuel programs, including Match Advice, Expert Fuel, Trip Alert and Route Advice.
The acquisition is the third for TMW in recent months following its purchase of Maddocks Systems, the developers of TruckMate trucking enterprise software, and trucking maintenance software provider TMT Software.
"We are committed to expanding our portfolio of products for the trucking industry," said Dave Wangler, president and CEO of TMW systems. "IDSC is at the forefront of taking advanced mathematical concepts and applying them to practical problems."
ISDC developed algorithms to aid trucking companies in routing, load matching and fuel optimization and has been a leader in the field since 1990. Ben Murphy, president and COO of IDSC will continue with the company as a TMW vice president and general manager of IDSC.
Rick Murphy, IDSC chairman and CEO described the move as a "really good thing. It provides enhanced value to our customers. There are tremendous synergies between our two companies and I expect our customer base to grow as a result." Rick Murphy will remain involved on product and market strategy issues.
Wangler said the decision to acquire IDSC, which shares a number of common customers with TMW, followed their desire to offer more products to their customers, especially in load-matching and fuel optimization. "We decided we were not going to get there on our own." TMS also found the product offerings from IDSC to be "compelling," Wangler added, especially IDSC's web-based applications such as TruckloadRate.com and FuelAdvice.com.
"What the Internet is doing is it's going to be a leveler. It's bringing some of these solutions down to the smaller carriers," Rick Murphy said. Using TruckloadRate.com or FuelAdvice.com allows small fleets and owner-operators to realize the same benefits the largest carriers get from their enterprise software, he added.
While IDSC has targeted medium to small fleets, TMW has marketed to larger fleets. Adding IDSC to TMW's stable expands the target market substantially, Wangler acknowledged. The deal also made sense from an economy of scale standpoint and it gives TMW proven solutions for a number of trucking applications. "We think we can get these products to more people more quickly."
Wangler said all current IDSC software products will continue to be developed and supported. TMW Systems has extended its Lifetime Support Policy to include IDSC's entire product line. This policy states that TMW Systems is committed to supporting any customer of any product as long as they continuously subscribe to support and maintenance or renewals. The company will also accelerate the growth and development of IDSC products and puts IDSC products in front of current TMW customers.
TMW's products include TMWSuite for Windows, TruckMate for Windows and TL2000 for the IBM System i systems.
Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.