When a company earns a first round of funding more than two decades after launch, it's getting long-overdue recognition. And when that first round is for $30 million, with an additional $100 million to draw on if all goes well, the wait was probably worth it.
    That's not to say there weren't some identity issues along the way. GlobalWare Solutions came to life in 1978 as a printing com pany called ZBR Publications, originally producing technical manuals. Yet two years ago, embracing the philosophy that survival requires adaptation, the company presciently realized that its future would be bleak if it relied on just content. So, renaming itself GlobalWare, the company jumped into the software game and began integrating its offerings with its clients' ordering systems. The result was a sophisticated supply-chain management platform that enables the tracking of in ventory, ordering, and shipping, combined with GlobalWare's signature tech content, now expanded into digital documents and CD-ROMs.
    For clients such as Intel, Lucent, Nortel, Jabil, and Flextronics, GlobalWare's software has a desirable on-demand functionality so that components can be manufactured and shipped as a consumer orders them, rather than having them lying around in storage.
    GlobalWare's vast database also keeps track of customers' specifications from the past. The benefit is that all its clients' original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) can out-source time-consuming and logistically-intensive aspects of their manufacturing process and merge them into one neat platform.
    GlobalWare achieves its quick production cycle by converting the information on supporting products into metadata that becomes part of its client's ordering process. Behind any order for something like a PC, GlobalWare's software is organizing orders for peripherals—like printers or Zip drives—that need to go with it. In addition, it provides Web-based platform collaboration tools to its clients who need to interact with GlobalWare to provide more information or changes to an order.

    To work effectively, clients must give GlobalWare master copies of all the documents, software, and other peripherals that might need to be shipped to customers. After studying them, GlobalWare integrates this information with its software tools so it can help meet the needs of customers, even if the exact product ordered isn't available.
    On-demand production, of course, has been the trend for a number of years—witness the phenomenal success of Dell Computer, for example. GlobalWare takes it a step further, with software that integrates supporting documents into the process. Consumers, after all, don't want to wait a week to get manuals that can be delivered tomorrow. And manufacturers who make their product on-demand don't want to be stuck stockpiling old, out-dated manuals, because they're quickly rendered obsolete.
    "You can't let the customer decide what they want and change the configuration of a system if you can't change the software and documetation at the same time," GlobalWare CEO James Bartlett said. "So, we've developed build-to-demand e-based manufacturing, and we can deliver it right to our customers' customers."
    Seamlessness is the key to getting things running efficiently for the customer just like it is for the company selling the product—and for GlobalWare's running itself. Just imagine how much time and effort is wasted under the old system estimating, manually ordering, and stockpiling information about products; GlobalWare's solution is based on aggregation, which hints at the potential this company has to transform technology sales.
    Now that it has developed the integrat- ed technology, GlobalWare wants to gain as dramatic a foothold as possible while still maintaining a competitive advantage. This is partially being achieved through international expansion. The company has added offices in Redwood City, Calif.; Guadalajara, Mexico; and Amsterdam, The Netherlands; it also does significant business in China.

FAST FACTS

Business
Supply-chain management and delivery

Principals
James Bartlett, CEO; Peter McGuirk,
President; Maria Muise, COO

Established
November 1978; Wilmington, Mass.

Headquarters
Haverhill, Mass.

Financing
$30 million in one round

Competitors
Zomax, Modus Media

Contact
200 Ward Hill
Haverhill, MA 01835
ph: 978.469.7500
f: 978.469.7377
www.globalwaresolutions.com

    GlobalWare is also looking to acquire smaller competitors to make itself a larger name in its space. That was the motivation behind the company's recent funding round, most of which will be used for future purchases.
    To help raise this round in December 2001, the company utilized the services of investment banker Newbury, Piret & Company. Hugh Taylor, a managing director at the firm, said GlobalWare is well-positioned because it's a stable company with growth prospects in a market ripe for the consolidation that its new investment can afford.
    "They had boot-strapped themselves to this point and now have steady, significant revenue growth, which is what firms investing in a company this old look for," Taylor said. "More important, they're in a sector that is rapidly consolidating, that has the ability to support a few companies in the $500 million annual revenue range. GlobalWare has the potential to be one of them."

    "The hallmark of our investing style is to go with guys who have been in the industry a long time, proven their ability to build a business to a certain level, and need capital to take it to the next level," Jay said. "Given that, there's not a real set number on our investment, and in GlobalWare's case, we can go much bigger, and it wouldn't be a challenge for us."
    If all goes according to plan, GlobalWare seems well poised to take advantage of that flexibility. With a number of acquisition deals in the works, Bartlett wants to grow revenue by about 20 percent in 2002, despite the likely slow first half of the year. Based on last year's revenues of approximately $125 million, that means about $150 million this year.
    The company is also advancing its technology to incorporate significant new efficien-cies. Bartlett is particularly excited about the opportunities for the electronic delivery of much of the

    GlobalWare's unique position as a 24-year-old veteran also led it to look for a slightly different type of investor. Instead of a traditional VC firm, it turned to Mezzanine Management, a private equity company that specializes in mid- to late-stage companies in the middle market. Based in London, Mezzanine makes investments on both continents and holds equity in companies similar to GlobalWare in Europe. That connection was particularly attractive for GlobalWare, as Mezzanine can help it to make partnerships or acquisitions to grow the company's European operation.
    As a private equity fund, Mezzanine also has significant flexibility. The $30 million Mezzanine has provided GlobalWare with so far, is to a large extent an open-ended number. Bradley Jay, a U.S.-based managing director, explains that as long as GlobalWare grows and provides a good return on investment, Mezzanine will be there to fund additional growth.

documentation it currently ships to consumers. Customers could someday get manuals and instructions via e-mail or at a Web location, which would cut down on shipping costs for GlobalWare and its clients. Also, people tired of having drawers full of ragged instruction booklets would be able to easily store manuals on their desktops or in system folders.
    "Currently we ship 75 percent of our documentation in hard form and 25 percent electronically," Bartlett said. "It's definitely moving the other way. As pipelines get bigger and faster, and systems get better, people will realize they're better off getting this information electronically rather than waiting for it on paper."
    Competition looms, of course, as other printers and manufacturers adapt to the on-demand world and some start developing their own software to handle the large paper trails that result from the ordering of hardware and peripherals.
    Yet through the savior faire only years of experience can provide—plus an advanced software product and strong capital support—GlobalWare has a good shot to make a stake in its space. Finally, after 24 years, the printer- turned-software company will have arrived.