Beginning in December 1995, ARI has had a formal and aggressive development program aimed
at identifying, evaluating, and closing acquisitions which augment and strengthen
our market positions, product offerings, and personnel resources. Since the program's
inception, more than 200 acquisition candidates have been evaluated, resulting in
several completed acquisitions. Our most recent acquisition activity includes:
2009 |
Channel Blade Technologies
On April 28, 2009, we acquired the assets of Channel Blade Technologies in Virginia Beach, Virginia. Channel Blade is the leading provider of websites, lead management and marketing automation solutions in the marine and recreation vehicle markets. The combination creates an industry leader with enhanced opportunities for growth in all of our vertical markets. Channel Blade’s customers will benefit from ARI’s e-commerce and website marketing capabilities that drive increased dealership revenues and profitability. Channel Blade’s fully integrated manufacturer and dealer lead generation solution, Footsteps, will help all ARI customers shrink their sales cycle and turn more prospects into customers.
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2009 |
Powersports Outsourcing Group (PSOG), LLC
On April 17, we acquired the assets of Powersports Outsourcing Group (PSOG), LLC, located in Schenectady, New York. PSOG provides outsourced services that allow a dealer to offer more options to a consumer for financing and insurance (F&I) products. These products are critical to a dealer’s financial success, but many small and mid-sized dealerships do not have a full-time F&I representative. Operating under the name F&ISmart, we now offer these products to our thousands of customers in the powersports, marine and RV markets.
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2008 |
Info Access
On July 1, 2008, we acquired certain assets of Info Access, the micropublishing division of Eye Communications, Inc., of Hartland, Wisconsin related to electronic parts catalog (EPC), electronic commerce and certification testing for service technicians. The acquisition of Info Access was an important next step in expanding ARI's business into the Appliances industry.
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2007 |
OC-Net, Inc.
On January 26, 2007, we acquired OC-Net, Inc. of Cypress, California. OC-Net provided website development and hosting services to the Power Sports market, which includes motorcycles, All Terrain Vehicles (ATV's), snowmobiles, and personal watercraft. The acquisition of OC-Net was an important next step in expanding ARI's website development and hosting business in the Power Sports market. OC-Net's dealer website product, customer base, corporate custom website and hosting capabilities are an excellent fit with ARI's fast-growing Marketing Services business.
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2004 |
Service Management Group, Inc.
On September 30, 2004, we acquired the co-ownership rights to software products
of Service Management Group, Inc. of Hattiesberg, MS. The acquisition provided us
with the software code upon which WarrantySmart™, ARI's product registration and
warranty claim submission and processing software, is based. In addition, miscellaneous
related (but undeployed) products were acquired. |
2003 |
VertX Commerce Corporation
On October 23, 2003, we acquired VertX Commerce Corporation (“VertX”), located in
San Diego, CA. VertX Commerce Corporation supplied software and services that provided
dealers with websites to promote and sell their equipment, parts and accessories
online. The acquisition provided us with the WebsiteSmartዪ software that is now
an integral part of our Marketing Services.
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1999 |
Network Dynamics Incorporated
On May 13, 1999, we acquired Network Dynamics Incorporated ("NDI"), based in Williamsburg,
Virginia. NDI's PartSmart® electronic catalog software is now our primary catalog
software in all of the Equipment Industry sub-markets we serve other than recreation
vehicles and manufactured housing. At the time of the acquisition, PartSmart® was used by more than 10,000 dealers to
view catalogs from more than 50 manufacturers in six sectors of the Equipment
Industry. |
1998 |
POWERCOM-2000
On September 15, 1998, we acquired POWERCOM-2000 ("Powercom"), a Colorado Springs,
Colorado-based division of Briggs & Stratton Corporation. Powercom provided
of electronic cataloging and communications software and services to companies in
the North American, European, and Australian outdoor power, power tools, and power
sports industries. |
1997 |
Empart Technologies, Inc.
On September 30, 1997, we acquired Empart Technologies, Inc. ("Empart"). Empart
was a Silicon Valley-based developer of software for electronic parts catalogs.
Empart's products included EMPARTpublisher™, a software tool used to convert data
from a variety of forms into an electronic format, and EMPARTviewer™, a high-end
configurable electronic parts catalog software package. The EMPART™ software is
being used in the recreational vehicles and manufactured housing sub-markets. We
intend to deploy the EMPARTpublisher™ software in all segments of the Equipment
Industry. The EMPART™ database is also the underlying technology upon which our
Web-based electronic catalog product, EMPARTweb™, is based. |
1996 |
cd\*.IMG, Inc.
On November 4, 1996, we completed the acquisition of cd\*.IMG, Inc. ("CDI"). CDI
was in the business of publishing electronic parts catalogs and the software that
dealers and repair shops in the Equipment Industry use to read the catalogs. CDI's
PLUS1® electronic parts catalog featured parts information from over 20 manufacturers
in the outdoor power equipment, marine, motorcycles, and power sports sub-markets.
PartSmart®, which we acquired as part of the NDI
acquisition described above, subsequently replaced PLUS1® in these sub-markets. |