[ Thanks to Wayne
Slade for this link. ]
“If someone told you a hole existed in the competitive landscape
for a large and highly addressable US market segment you would call
them a niche miner. If I told you the cream of that niche totaled
$56 billion and could be addressed in a three to five year time
frame you might wonder how you missed it. Don’t feel bad, it seems
that the major computer companies have missed it too.“In a nutshell, the local government software market has not
drawn large software firms. Also, independent software vendors
(ISV’s) have failed to adequately satisfy this market’s needs as
they lack the resources to serve the large geographical base.
People have viewed this market as fragmented, requiring too much
one-off customization with long sales cycles. Since the tragedy of
September 11, 2001 those barriers and the poor economics of serving
this sector have changed. You might call this a new
opportunity…”