Information Technology Reference
In-Depth Information
The Borland experience shows that the 1980s was a period of technical frag-
mentation combined with lots of companies going after “hot” markets such as de-
velopment environments. Increasing competition in niche markets was part of the
reason for Borland's decline.
Computer Aid, Inc. (CAI)
CAI is primarily a midsized software outsource group, but with some unique at-
tributes. It was founded by Tony Salvaggio and Winslow Hill in 1981 in Al-
lentown, Pennsylvania. Of the two founders, Salvaggio was a former IBMer and
Hill was from Bethlehem Steel, which was located only a few miles from Al-
lentown.
CAI is one of many startups created by former IBM personnel (including the
author of this topic). Other famous companies created by former IBM personnel
include Amdahl and Electronic Data Systems (EDS).
CAI grew initially by outsourcing software maintenance of legacy applications.
This is a task that many outsourcers perform better than their clients, and CAI is no
exception. As with many other outsource groups, CAI expanded globally and has
a large team of software personnel located in the Philippines as well as in Europe
and the United States.
The CAI executives, including Tony Salvaggio, recognized that the software
industry needed more and better information. CAI created a wholly owned sub-
sidiary called the Information Technology Metrics and Productivity Institute
(ITMPI). The ITMPI group has provided seminars, webinars, a monthly electronic
journal, and an increasingly large library of articles and reference materials. Some
of the courses are certified by the PMI. ITMPI is a valuable information resource
for the software industry.
Creating an organization that offers high-quality speakers and authors who are
industry gurus and not corporate employees was a bold and innovative step. I have
participated in a number of ITMPI events and found them to be very well managed
and popular with attendees and clients. The ITMPI library has become one of the
richer sources of software information for many corporate software groups.
CAI is also unusual for an outsourcer in that it developed several successful
software packages. One of the recent software tools is the Automated Project Of-
fice (APO), which handles various project and portfolio measurement, monitoring,
and governance functions.
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