IHS Expands Presence In Energy Market With McCloskey Buy

IHS Inc. last week acquired U.K.-based The McCloskey Group Ltd. for approximately 14.4 million pounds. The McCloskey Group provides information and analysis on the international coal markets. The company was founded in 1987 to provide coal and energy newsletters to the Financial Times.

The McCloskey Group's current stable of products includes eight print and electronic publications, annual conferences and consulting services. Coal producers, traders, shippers and consumer blue-chip customers rely on these offerings.

This deal will ultimately help IHS bolster its energy-related offerings to assist IHS in providing a more comprehensive suite of news and analysis for this market. It's not a particularly large transaction, but it will undoubtedly play a significant role in helping IHS become a more complete information and services provider for the energy market and for its overall customer base.

Advanstar Announces New Digital Strategy

Advanstar Communications has announced a new direction for its Healthcare Group that calls for digital distribution of its content. Its new site, ModernMedicine.com, a centralized physician portal, will serve as a centralized physician portal from which users can accesses Advanstar's health content.

ModernMedicine.com integrates content from Advanstar's five primary care publications (including Medical Economics) and seven specialty care publications, as the site replaces each publication's own website. Advanstar anticipates the site will have 100,000 registered users, who are authenticated against the American Medical Association database, in 2008. The company expects this will help its advertising clients effectively reach the authenticated doctors they wish to connect with.

ModernMedicine.com will provide access to more than 300 peer-reviewed journals, coding and reimbursement tools, formulary status tools, a library of CME programs, customizable patient education, coverage of more than 80 major medical conferences and practice management advice.

Advanstar's other electronic plans include increasing the frequency of its Drug Topics title, with five editions published each month (four produced digitally and one in print).

Publishers seem to be taken with the idea to create a single portal (essentially a one-stop-shop) for their content offerings. It makes sense to focus on building just one strong brand; a single place where readers can find the content and services they are looking for and where advertisers can reach a large and relevant audience with a single placement.

With a combination of their publications' content and other offerings (such as peer-reviewed journals and coding tools), Advanstar is certainly on the right track. But to make it work for the long-term, Advanstar (as well as other publishers launching similar portals) has to be committed to the continued development of the portal. It has to regularly give readers new reasons to visit; reasons to make this their only source for healthcare-related content. Launching a site such as ModernMedicine.com is not a one-time proposition. It requires a constant commitment. Site visitors must find offerings that engage them every time they visit or they will simply find another source. Making ModernMedicine.com required reading for its customers is truly the ultimate goal; and Advanstar certainly has the resources in place to make that happen.

Reed Construction Data Uses Acquisition to Build BIM Presence

Reed Construction Data this month announced the acquisition of Tectonic Partners Inc., a developer and provider of building information modeling (BIM) for the architectural, engineering and construction industries.

Combined, the companies will provide a customer base of architects, engineers and contractors a collection of tools with which they can create and manage BIM content on the desktop. They will also be able to integrate RSMeans' cost data into objects and drawings.

Reed Construction Data partnered with RCMS Group earlier in 2007 to enhance Reed's BIM-related offerings. This deal with Tectonic will certainly position Reed as a leader in the BIM space. The acquisition gives Reed Construction Data ownership of a Tectonic portfolio that includes Library Manager, a software application for the organization and management of Autodesk Revit families, which helps create BIM. Tectonic also has a library of BIM objects.

BIM technology gives users the ability to improve visualization, coordination, simulation and optimization. These capabilities yield benefits such as cost savings, fewer errors, productivity gains and an ability to manage building information throughout a project's lifecycle.

This acquisition signifies a great way for Reed Construction Data to end the year. This certainly further solidifies the company's commitment to serving the BIM needs of its customers. Coupled with its partnership with RCMS Group, Reed Construction Data is positioning itself as a leader in this space. It won't be surprising if the company continues to bolster its offerings in this area, either organically or through acquisitions, in 2008.

WhitePages.com Continues Growth Plan in 2008

WhitePages.com announced this month that 2008 will mark its shift to a community driven model by enabling users to manage their own listing on the service. Users will be able to add, correct, hide and delete information. Also in 2008, WhitePages.com will also increase the depth of information available as well as the number of people searchable in its database.

The new user generated content capability is expected to enable consumers to add email addresses, mobile phone numbers and social networking information. To ensure the accuracy of the information, WhitePages.com will have data verification processes in place. The company will also aggregate online and offline people-related information and offer it for free.

WhitePages.com currently has a proprietary contact database that covers 80 percent of the U.S. adult population. This year, the company increased the size of the database from 89 million people to 180 million in just 10 months.

This is a smart move by WhitePages.com. In order to be successful in this marketplace, you must have a vast database of contact information. But, of course, your job doesn't end there. Quantity does not equal quality and that's why infusing the content with user-generated contributions is also such a great idea. People are becoming more accustomed to being a part of the information-gathering process. And they should be part of the process. They're great resources; and they value accuracy as much as the data providers themselves. With companies such as WhitePages.com working side-by-side with users, everyone wins. The value of user-generated content can't and shouldn't be ignored.

Bankrate Enhances Content Offerings with Savingforcollege.com Buy

Bankrate, which owns and operates Bankrate.com, an Internet consumer banking marketplace, this month acquired Savingforcollege.com for $2.25 million in cash (and an earn out of $2 million for performance metrics achieved over the next two years).

Savingforcollege.com is a site that offers consumers and financial professionals information about college financing by providing data about 529 college savings plans. The deal also gives Bankrate copyright ownership of Savingforcollege.com's Joseph Hurley's books, guides and industry publication, such as Family Guide to College Savings.

As financing college educations continues to be a top-of-mind issue for many consumers, it's important for Bankrate to offer valuable content related to 529 plans to such a captive audience. For this reason, this acquisition makes perfect sense. Bankrate expects this to drive more traffic to its Bankrate.com site. It's a safe bet that Bankrate and its advertisers are hoping visitors interested in Savingforcollege.com content will return for additional content as their financial information needs evolve.