Aspen Technology - Aspen Technology

Aspen Technology, Inc. -- known as AspenTech -- is a provider of software and services for the process industries headquartered in Bedford, Massachusetts. AspenTech has 30 offices around the world, on 6 continents.

History

Founded in 1981, AspenTech was born out a joint research project between the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and US Department of Energyâ€"an Advanced System for Process Engineering (ASPEN) Project.

On July 15, 2004, AspenTech was required by the Federal Trade Commission to make divestitures in regard to an anti-trust ruling against its acquisition of HyproTech. This included divestment of batch and continuous simulation systems and integrated engineering software business (AXSYS). In the same year, a class action lawsuit was filed against Aspen Technology and its certain officers over issuance of misleading statements and improper revenue recognition.

On November 24, 2004, the company restated results for the fiscal years ended June 2000 through June 2004 after its audit committee discovered the company improperly accounted for certain software licenses. On March 15, 2005, the company announced that the Audit Committee of the Company's Board of Directors had completed its previously announced financial review and the company had restated its financials for each of the fiscal years ended June 30, 2000 through June 30, 2004.

Aspen Technology was delisted from the NASDAQ on February 19, 2008 for failing to meet financial transparency guidelines of the NASDAQ exchange. In February, 2010 the company was relisted on the NASDAQ exchange.

Corporate Turnaround

Under former CEO Mark Fusco, AspenTech executed a corporate turnaround strategy. Examples of steps taken during this period included:

• Consolidating facilities with regional head offices in The America's, EMEA and Asia Pacific.
• Reducing the R&D facilities from 19 to 3 globally - Process Modeling based in Burlington, Massachusetts; Manufacturing and Supply Chain Center of Excellence in Houston, Texas; Quality Assurance Center in Shanghai, China
• Reorganizing the professional services business unit - new organization structure and management, and streamlining operations.

On April 30, 2013, AspenTech announced that Mark Fusco would retire as President & CEO effective September 30, 2013. On October 1, 2013, Antonio Pietri became AspenTech President & CEO.

References

External links

• Official website
• http://www.forbes.com/companies/aspen-technology/
• http://www.glassdoor.com/Reviews/AspenTech-Reviews-E3701.htm
• http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2012/10/01/nashua-expansion-marks-long-comeback-for-aspen-technology/yRKcfeQXDMHNrTDvSmIXJK/story.html (2012)
• http://www.jimpinto.com/commentary/aspentech.html (2004)