SSA Begins Buying Spree with Ironside Takeover.

SSA Global Technologies Inc has kicked off its promised flurry of acquisitions with the takeover of demand chain management software provider Ironside Technologies Inc for an undisclosed sum.

CEO Mike Greenough said that Ironside's sell-side and buy-side e-commerce applications would extend and strengthen SSA's existing product portfolio and become important components of its customer relationship and supplier relationship strategies.

Earlier this month, Greenough told ComputerWire that his company was in talks to acquire seven more companies. It aimed to follow up its purchase of Baan Company NV with a burst of takeover activity to take revenue to over $1bn and its customer base to more than 20,000.

Privately held Ironside claims 200 manufacturing and distribution customers across a range of industries. It says its applications, which can be implemented in less than 90 days, automate processes such as order management, supplier management, customer service, and procurement.

SSA said that the two companies have a complementary client base, industry expertise and technology platform. Both target mid-market manufacturers and distributors, and both run on IBM iSeries as well as Windows NT and Unix.

Pleasanton, California-based Ironside has always boasted that while ERP packages are limited to their own proprietary platforms, it could provide a single source of e-commerce products for ERP platforms, including SAP, Oracle, SSA JD Edwards, JBA, and Prism that could run across multiple systems.