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Thursday, 20 April
2006 Addition of Leading Provider of
Public Transit & Rail Asset Management
Solutions Extends Hansen's State & Local
Government Footprint
American Public Transit Association
Conference
RANCHO CORDOVA, Calif.-- April 20,
2006--Hansen Information Technologies
(Hansen(R)) today announced the acquisition of
San Francisco-based Spear Technologies, Inc.,
the leading provider of asset management
solutions for the public transit and rail
market.
Today, Spear solutions support the
maintenance activities at four of the ten
largest public transit agencies in the United
States, including New York City Transit, Los
Angeles County MTA, Dallas Area Rapid Transit,
and San Francisco Municipal Railway. The
company's products also support the maintenance
activities at three of the five largest bus
companies serving central London.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed,
but acquisition financing was provided by
existing investors, led by San Francisco-based
Golden Gate Capital, a $2.6 billion private
equity fund.
"The acquisition of Spear Technologies is
consistent with our strategy of building a suite
of scalable Microsoft .NET business applications
that serve the government enterprise," said
Chuck Hansen, Chairman and CEO of Hansen. "Given
the asset-intensive nature of government, with
fixed assets often representing over 70% of
total assets, Spear enhances Hansen's position
as the de facto standard for the management and
valuation of public sector assets. The addition
of Spear to our portfolio expands Hansen's
ability to integrate, streamline, and manage the
design, permitting, construction, operation,
maintenance, rehabilitation, and revenue cycle
of public sector assets."
Founded in 1997, Spear serves over 10,000
users worldwide and maintains transportation and
rolling stock assets that move over 11 million
people each day. Spear's ten largest U.S. public
transit customers manage more than 17,000 bus
and rail vehicles. Key benefits of Spear's
solutions include increased asset utilization,
enhanced workforce productivity, improved
safety, minimized inventory levels, improved
warranty collections, and increased return on
assets.
"We are delighted to team with a visionary
company like Hansen that is focused exclusively
on delivering business solutions to the
government market," stated Mike Thomas, Founder
& Chairman of Spear. "Teaming with Hansen
allows us to expand our presence in the mid-size
public transit and international rail markets."
John Barbera, President & Chief Operating
Officer of Spear added, "Hansen and Spear
customers will benefit by standardizing on a
single vendor that can deliver an end-to-end
solution using a Microsoft .NET platform.
Hansen's integrated suite of web-based Asset
Management, Building Permit, CRM, Financials,
GASB 34 Valuation, GIS, Transportation, and Web
Portal solutions, provide a nature extension to
our public transit and rail domain expertise."
In the United States, selected Spear
customers include: Amtrak, Capital District
Transit Authority, Charlotte Area Transit
System, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, Golden Gate
Bridge Highway Transportation District, Hampton
Roads Transit, Hudson Bergen Light Rail, Los
Angeles County Metropolitan Transit Authority,
Kansas City Area Transportation, Authority, San
Joaquin Regional Transit District, New York City
Transit, Pierce Transit, Riverside Transit
Authority, San Mateo County Transit, Port
Authority Trans-Hudson, San Francisco Municipal
Railway, and Utah Transit Authority.
Selected Spear international customers
include: Arriva, Freightliner, Go-Ahead Group,
Metroline, and Romanian State Railways.
"We are committed to protecting the
significant investment in technology made by
Spear customers," said Mark Watts, President of
Hansen. "Customers of Spear will immediately
gain access to our deep understanding of
Microsoft .NET solutions and history of
delivering a steady stream of customer-driven
enhancements."
Spear immediately becomes Hansen's new
Transit and Rail Business Unit, supporting its
own dedicated global sales, product management,
project delivery, application development, and
training resources.
Customers and prospects will get their first
glimpse of the Hansen-Spear product offering at
the upcoming American Public Transit Association
(APTA) Conference, April 30 - May 3 in Anaheim,
CA. Attendees are encouraged to visit the
Hansen/Spear Internet Cafe throughout the
conference.
About Spear Technologies, Inc.
Spear is the world's leading provider of
public transit and rail asset management
systems. Headquartered in San Francisco,
California, the company focused on helping
public sector customers maintain high-value
rolling stock and moving assets, such as busses,
railway, aircraft, vessels, and support fleets.
In addition, the company is a leader in managing
fixed and linear assets, such as mining
equipment, passenger terminals, airports, and
track. For more information, visit http://www.speartechnologies.com/.
About Hansen Information Technologies
Founded in 1983, Hansen(R) is the world's
leading provider of intelligent, adaptive, and
pervasive solutions that help manage the
transactions of government. Headquartered in
Rancho Cordova, California, the company is a
privately-held corporation employing over 300
people with offices in Auckland, London,
Melbourne, Perth, Sydney, and Toronto. For more
information, visit http://www.hansen.com/.
GITA's
Annual Conference 29 (April 23-26,
2006, Tampa, Florida USA) - This year's
conference theme, No Barriers: Connected.
Responsive. Prepared.— reflects the fact that
professionals in geospatial technology must
respond to growing business needs to prepare for
dynamic situations.
GeoWeb 2006, July
24-28, Vancouver, BC, Canada - a
landmark event about unleashing the economic
potential associated with the convergence of
XML, Web services and geographic information
systems.
GID
2006 - Advancing Geospatial
Intelligence Across All Agencies To Seamlessly
Support The WarFighter - May 8-10, 2006 * Westin
Arlington Hotel, Arlington, VA
FME
Regional USer Conference - Safe
Software will be hosting a FME Regional User
Conference on Wednesday, May 3,
2006 at the International Hotel located
in downtown Calgary