Geac has acquired the assets of Stowe Computing Australia Pty Ltd. and Stowe Computing NZ Limited last December 7, 1998. Stowe Computing offers IT solutions to governments and libraries and is, besides Geac, a leading supplier in this region. Stowe Computing adds over 5 million Euro to Geac's total turnover.
The acquisition of Stowe shows all the more that Geac wants to reinforce itself in each market segment in which it currently supplies its products. Stowe has been active in the library for the past 12 years and a number of important organisations make use of the Stowe products, among others: Shorelink Library Network, Canberra Institute of Technology and Wimmera Regional Library. Also libraries outside Australia and New Zealand, namely the United Kingdom, South Africa, France and Northern America use the Stowe library solutions.
Developed and supported by professional librarians, BookPlus is one of the most important library solutions. BookPlus has proven to answer to all the necessary functionalities required in a modern library. Stowe is known for her "open" systems and the applied client/server technology. The available clients support all standard Windows facilities and therefore enables you to use all the available BookPlus modules in a most user-friendly manner. ‘Strategy for libraries', the collective name under which these clients are offered, meet all the international standards such as Z39.50, FTP and EDI.
Garry Dohnt, Managing Director of Stowe adds: "Stowe has been seeking an association with a large and financially secure international software company for some time. We found and excellent partner in Geac, because of its size and commitment to software and support in Australia and New Zealand. The complimentary nature of our product lines means that our customers will have access to a larger portfolio of product offerings while protecting the value of their current software investment."
Geac gives all staff and customers of Stowe a hearty welcome