Wavefront Technologies - Acquisitions and Mergers

Acquisitions and Mergers

Wavefront was involved in several mergers of major computer graphics software companies through the 1980s and 1990s. In 1988, Wavefront acquired Abel Image Research, a division of Robert Abel and Associates, where founder Bill Kovacs had previously worked. The acquisition was partially financed by the Belgian government, following Wavefront's establishment of an office in Ghent in association with Barco Graphics of Kortrijk. Acquiring Abel Image Research increased Wavefront's presence in Japan. The Japanese conglomerate CSK became a part owner of Wavefront Japan in 1990, helping to expand the company further in Asia.

Wavefront acquired rival computer graphics company Thomson Digital Images of France in 1993. TDI's software featured innovations in NURBS modeling and interactive rendering. The company also had extensive distribution channels in Europe and Asia.

On February 7, 1995, Silicon Graphics announced that it would purchase Wavefront Technologies and Alias Research, in a deal totaling approximately $500 million. SGI merged the two companies to create Alias|Wavefront, with the goal of creating more advanced digital tools by combining the companies' strengths and reducing duplication. At the time of the merger, Wavefront had a market value of $119 million, and 1994 revenues of $28 million.

What partially motivated this merger was Microsoft's purchase of Alias and Wavefront's competitor Softimage. SGI saw Microsoft's entrance into the market as a threat and merged Alias and Wavefront to compete with Microsoft. Alias is now owned by Autodesk, as is Softimage as of October 2008.