eSkye targets smaller players with software acquisition
the beverage industry, has this week acquired compatriot Blend
Winery Software (BWS), adding a number of major wine producers to
its growing portfolio of clients.
BWS serves over 60 winery customers including LVMH's Domaine Chandon, Fortune Brands' Geyser Peak Winery, Silverado Vineyards, King Estate Winery and Golan Heights Winery (Israel) with its wine production systems.
The acquisition will allow eSkye to combne its own Wine Production System (WiPS) software with the Blend 2000 and PC-Blend suites created by BWS to offer a complete line of winery production systems for both large and small wineries.
A key advantage to BWS' software is that it runs on Microsoft Windows-based PCs, which makes it ideal for smaller wineries, eSkye said.
Keith McLeod, president of eSkye Solutions, said: "This acquisition gives us entry into a whole new segment of the market - the small and medium-sized winery. We are excited by the opportunity to expand our offering to a broad cross section of the industry by adding Blend Winery Software to our growing product portfolio."
Chairman and CEO of eSkye Solutions, Smoke Wallin, said that it was only natural for companies servicing the global wine industry to combine and consolidate at the same time as the wine industry itself.
"eSkye is building its business around scalable world-class technologies that provide brand owners with long-term solutions for their business needs. Blend Winery Software gives us great applications and a customer base that represents some of the world's best wine making today."
As well as providing software for the increasingly sophisticated wine industry, eSkye is a leading provider of Web-based solutions for the global beverage industry, allowing distributors and suppliers to track orders, check prices and assess availability.
