Versata

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Versata [1] is a business-rules based application development environment running in Java EE. It is a subsidiary of Trilogy, Inc.

[edit] History

Versata started in the early 1990s as a software consulting company called Vision Software. Over time it developed and sold software for Microsoft Visual Basic development market. Around 1994, it began development of an integrated development environment for applications. It included a GUI builder and a business rules engine that enabled developers to create a Web application rapidly using MS SQL Server or Oracle in the backend. The product, called Vision Jade, was released around 1997. It was enhanced to support three tier applications and Java thin clients.

Vision Software changed its key product and company name to Versata, went public in March 2000 and, on that day, was worth an astonishing $4 billion --astonishing considering that the company had revenues of about $60 million and was losing a lot of money; but this was during the Dot-com bubble. Despite hard times, Versata has managed to stay alive and maintain its customer base.

In November 2000, Versata expanded into the business workflow area with the acquisition of Verve, Inc..

From early 2001 through mid-2003 Versata's revenues were in quarter over quarter decline until Alan Baratz took over as CEO. Five consecutive quarters of growth followed until early 2005 when revenues once again took a downward plunge.

Mid-2005 the company was notified by NASDAQ that it no longer met NASDAQ's requirements for continued listing, related to maintenance of a minimum amount of shareholder's equity, market value, or net income. Rather than continue to focus on these requirements, the company decided to move to the OTC (also known as the Pink Sheets) in order to remain publicly traded.

On 7th December 2005, Versata announced that Austin based Trilogy, Inc. had made an offer to acquire the company by tender. That deal was consummated in February 2006, taking the company private.

Trilogy then proceeded to merge portions of Trilogy, specifically, Trilogy Technology Group, into Versata and began acquiring further companies, reorganizing dramatically and offshoring most technical positions to its office in Bangalore, India.