A youthful powerhouse maturesCambridge Technology Partners, jointly established in 1991 by Safeguard Scientifics, Radnor Venture Partners and Cambridge Technology Group, was formed under the "fixed price, fixed time" mantra. Under the leadership of co-founder James Sims, the company went public in 1991, and a series of acquisitions followed: 1994's purchase of Sweden's IOS Group; 1995's acquisitions of Systems Consulting group and Axiom Management Consulting; and 1996's $36 million deal to buy Ramos & Associates. The dealmaking has continued under new president and chief executive officer Jack Messman with the November 2000 acquisition of Australia's OSIX Pty Ltd and the Centre of Excellence for e-CRM in Bangalore, India.
The pinnacle of this ten-year maturation period came in March 2001. Via a stock swap, Novell Inc., the networking software concern, will purchase Cambridge in a deal worth approximately $266 million. The acquisition, which will close in Q3 2001, is part of Novell's transformation into a consulting company. Cambridge CEO Messman, who has been a member of Novell's board, will transition into the CEO role for the combined company. Cambridge will become a wholly owned subsidiary.
Plan A and Plan B
Initially, Cambridge was one of the few high tech consulting firms to give customers an upfront guarantee of the duration and cost of a job. The firm now focuses on delivering e-business solutions to Global 1000 companies, as well as middle-market companies looking to build intranets and dot-com startups. With a yearly growth rate of more than 50 percent until 1999, Cambridge Technology Partners expanded outside its historic home in Cambridge, Mass. by leaps and bounds. The firm now has facilities across the U.S. and Europe, as well as Latin America, Australia, India and Asia - all told, in 19 countries around the world. As a sign of the popularity of Cambridge's computer consulting services, Cambridge's worldwide employee count swelled to 4,500 in 2000 - before layoffs again cut it back to 3,600.
