US IT researcher Gartner has released a research note (G00164605) that rates the suitability of offerings from Autodesk, Bentley, ESRI, GE Energy, Intergraph and Pitney Bowes Business Insights in the utilities market.
The report puts ESRI products in the top of five slots. Autodesk, GE Energy (Smallworld) and Intergraph rate in the second, with Bentley and PBBI in the third.
It says customers of products in the first or second level can continue to make their purchases with confidence. Customers of products at the third level should be aware of their limitations, and have strategies in place to deal with them.
Gartner attempts an analysis of the strength and weaknesses of each vendor.
Autodesk's strength is its openness, both in terms of formats and in its ability to link to non-GIS computer-aided design files. The report found that Mapguide Enterprise is one of the best GIS available for utilities.
It observes that Bentley's Microstation has been a core platform for its utility GIS, but it notes weaknesses for the electricity and gas markets. Gartner expects the V8i initiative to fix this problem.
The report notes that ESRI has been building GIS, and only GIS, for 39 years. It dominates the utility space, including remarkable growth in electricity and gas. It also notes that the company has teamed up with a number of other software vendors to bring in specialised expertise for particular niches. Its relationship with Miner and Miner is a case in point.
It says that 'ESRI's strong rating is based on its customer base. This provides a large pool of trained ESRI application users and developers, which seems to be a tipping point for close competitive bids.'
GE's Smallworld system continues to perform well in electricity, notes the report. It has been the most robust platform in dealing with complex network models. However, the report marks it down because GE is diluting its interest in the company. New applications that run directly in Oracle are eliminating the need for Smallworld in future installations.
In contrast to ESRI, Intergraph has a finger in many strategic pies. Nevertheless, the report concedes that its GeoMedia and G/Technology products are best of breed. It also offers industry specific variations of its applications such as G/Electric, G/Gas, G/Pipeline and G/ Water and G/Comms.
Gartner notes that many utilities continue to operate PBBI's MapInfo as a low-cost GIS tool for a number of specific applications, such as end-user addressing, geocoding and routing.
The report cites its pre-eminence in the Asia Pacific. It also mentions its success in the telecommunications market, but says it lacks the ability to operate as an advanced enterprise GIS server or to undertake the management of the large networks common in the utility market.
Source: www.asmmag.com
