Subject: Biosym/MSI Merger

From: <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 17 Aug 1995 18:04:00 -0400

While I share many of Dr. Jeff Nauss' concerns it will be a while before we 
can tell if the MSI-Biosym merger gives birth to a monster molecular 
modeling company.  Clearly they represent the lions share of the $$ market, 
I'd guess 60%, but I doubt that reflects the relative usage of their 
offerings. Thus there will be needs that MSI-Biosym don't satisfy though 
there is obvious pressure to stick with a market leader particularly in an 
industrial setting.

Obviously the announcement presages further clarifications at next weeks 
ACS meeting in Chicago (some may recall the fuss over the MS-Polgen merger 
during the ACS meeting in NYC several years ago).  It also signals smaller, 
less well positioned companies that they had better stick to niche markets 
or seek alliances which will let them survive.  But neither mergers nor 
specialization will guarantee success and further growth.  Cutbacks in real
chemical R&D spending, both academic and industrial, along with reductions 
in chemical employment require molecular modeling companies to improve the 
overall cost-effectiveness of their offerings.  This is part icularly 
crucial if companies wish to expand the user base since the newer users are 
unlikely to spend $100K for software to run on a $5-20K workstation, yet 
they demand a wide range of capabilities.

At the moment, I'm curious what MSI-Biosym will offer current customers and 
what their proposed future merged product (and company) will look like.  I 
have my suspicions that they will eventually streamline the company 
significantly more than their product.  On the whole, I think most users, 
particularly existing customers, will be winners in the deal.  If they 
sense that they're being taken advantage of, they'll look for other 
opportunities.  To ensure the best outcome, users will have to provide 
their input.  So "offer encouraging suggestions" either at next weeks ACS 
meeting in Chicago or through your local sales rep.  Just be a bit patient 
because, right now, the phones lines and e-mail routes are probably jammed. 
And remember, keep demanding data portability (we're not there yet) so you 
can move to another application...if pushed!

Best of luck!  Karl
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| Karl F. Moschner, Ph. D.                                              | 
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