History of Cranes

Cranes Software International Ltd. was co-founded by Mr. Asif Khader and Mr. Mukarram Jan in 1991. The Company started as a distributor of anti-virus software in Bangalore and later moved on to become the sole authorised distributor of MATLAB in South Asia in 1993.

The business of distribution of third party products grew in the 1990's and partnerships were established with reputed companies such as MicroSim Inc., Windriver Inc. and dSPACE GmbH Germany to distribute their scientific software products in India. The Company initiated its foray into the area of Digital Signal Processing (DSP) tools by signing a reseller arrangement with Texas Instruments for the ASEAN region which created the first overseas opportunity in this business. Today, the Company's partnerships have diversified to offer world-renowned solutions from reputed principals such as Texas Instruments, Mentor Graphics, IBM, InventX, MapuSoft and others.

In 1998, Cranes Software decided to start a training division and Cranes Varsity was formed to provide post-professional technical training in niche domains such as digital signal processing (DSP), real time embedded Systems (RTES) and mathematical modelling in 1998 for the academic and corporate sectors. Cranes Varsity has partnered with Texas Instruments and Rational (a subsidiary of IBM) to enhance the usage of technical software at engineering colleges and universities across the country. It has also emerged as the preferred training destination for several leading local and multinational companies in India. Cranes Varsity has trained over 2500 engineers for the likes of TI, GE's John F. Welch Technology Center, GE Transportation, Robert Bosch, Delphi System, Wipro, Infosys, Honeywell, Intel, Sasken, Tata Elxi, TCS etc.

In 2000, Cranes Software initiated its foray into software IPR with the acquisition of U.S.-based AISN Software's range of visualization software products, TableCurve 2D, Table Curve 3D and PeakFit. Ron Brown, the promoter of AISN Software and the original author of the acquired suite of products, endorsed Cranes Software's product management potential by joining the Company as the Chief Software Architect for the products created by him. He continues in this position at present and is also a member of Cranes Software's Board of Directors. Cranes Software's technical products portfolio also includes the global marketing rights to AutoSignal, SPSS' signal analysis product, also developed by Ron Brown.

Soon thereafter, Cranes Software acquired SYSTAT, an award winning statistical software product from SPSS Inc. The SYSTAT acquisition significantly strengthened Cranes Software's position in statistical software as it brought with it a global base of over 64,000 licensed users. Also, as in the case of the previous acquisition, Lee Wilkinson, SYSTAT's original author, recognized Cranes Software's strong strategic management and technical development capabilities and fully endorsed this acquisition. Lee is the Senior Vice President at SPSS Inc where he looks after the R&D function of that company. He continues to provide his inputs to the ongoing development initiatives and the strategic direction of the SYSTAT product.

In January 2004, Cranes Software acquired the marketing, licensing and development rights for the Sigma product line from SPSS Inc., including the flagship SigmaPlot® offering, SigmaStat® statistical analysis package, and SigmaScan® image analysis software. These offerings are highly complimentary to Cranes Software's current portfolio in terms of cross-selling potential within existing users and addressable markets.

The transaction also included the acquisition of the product's customers, personnel, fixed assets and all related intellectual property. At the time of its acquisition, the Sigma product had an established active user base of over 100,000 globally, largely in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology marketplace. Users included Merck, Eli Lilly, Pfizer and NASA, each of which had over a thousand desktop installations.

In 2005, Cranes Software acquired the Indian arm of Engineering Mechanics Research Corporation (EMRC). With this acquisition, Cranes Software not only offers a Finite Element Analysis (FEA), through the NISA family of suites, but also provides Computer Engineering Services (CAE) to clients in different domains. These products and services are supported by our experienced engineers to help clients solve the most complex of problems in various engineering domains and help deliver results faster and more accurately.

Another push towards offering services to customers is through Enterprise Solutions, which includes a wide range of services including consulting, research & analysis, simulation/modeling & design, development and implementation, migration, maintenance & support. Cranes's enterprise solutions portfolio today includes end-to-end solutions in Enterprise applications, Knowledge Management, Business Intelligence & analytics, and Performance Management. The division blends the rich expertise of product designing, R&D investment in emerging technologies and high-end consulting, thereby positioning it uniquely in the spectrum of ICT solution providers.

As a significant global player in the scientific software domain, Cranes Software is now in a position to combine the power of its software product offerings with high-quality, cutting-edge services and solutions to scientific researchers around the world.

Cranes Software has also made investments in emerging technologies such as wireless and MEMS. The Company has developed IP cores for wireless communications systems and wireless LAN test solutions for the automated test equipment (ATE) industry. Cranes Software has played a pioneering role in MEMS research by establishing CranesSci MEMS Lab in collaboration with Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore. Located at the IISc campus, this initiative is headed by Dr. Rudra Pratap, the Chairman of Cranes Software's Board.

Today, Cranes Software has its presence in 39 countries across the world and has a customer base of more than 350,000. Cranes Software provides its customers with award winning proprietary products, training and high-end consultancy services for engineers and scientists worldwide, and is continuously investing in future technologies.

With a mission statement to provide its customers the best in scientific technology and to enable its customers to define new limits, Cranes Software is setting new standards in the scientific and engineering field.