EAGLEPOINT SOFTWARE

EAGLEPOINT SOFTWARE. EaglePoint Software was a leading developer and marketer of technical application software for professionals in the fields of architecture, engineering, construction and geographic information systems industries. Founded in 1983 as ENGINEERING DATA SYSTEMS CORP., the company focused, during the 1980s, on developing and marketing software products for use by professional roadway designers. Software created by the company was used to design launch pads at Cape Kennedy, plan highways following an earthquake in San Francisco, and construct the world's largest automobile test track for Toyota.

The company, renamed EaglePoint Software, was started by Scott J. TAYLOR and John Biver. Rodney BLUM joined the company in 1990 as president. Taylor left in 1994 to start his own software company, CARTEGRAPH SYSTEMS, INC. Biver was terminated from his position as vice president-civil division effective in September, 2000.

Under the leadership of Blum, the company expanded its product line and grew from three employees in 1983 to 175 in 1993. In 1994 the company acquired LAND-CADD International, a leading developer of landscape architecture, irrigation design and environmental planning software. Of 65 modules in the 1996 product line, 38 were internally developed with 27 added through acquisition. In 1996 the company had over 16,900 customers worldwide and expected to issue over one million direct marketing mailings. Products were primarily distributed internationally through fifty resellers located in over twenty-five countries.

In 1997 EaglePoint's first attempt to enter the consumer market was "Picture Perfect," a computer program which allowed customers with home computers to create photo-realistic designs of home remodeling products using photographs or blue-prints.

Forbes magazine featured EaglePoint Software in March 1993, and INC. ranked the company 344th on its "1993 INC. 500." In 1994, Upside magazine honored EaglePoint on its first list of "Emerging Stars," the 140 fastest growing technology companies in the United States. In 1996 the company was named "software developer of the year" by Autodesk Asia Pacific. In 1997 EaglePoint was one of the five Iowa companies and one individual to receive the Governor's Export Award. (1)

Blum was chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer until 2000.

The company in 2006 signed a $3 million contract to develop an Indian Reservation road inventory system for the Navajo Nation Department of Transportation. The company which twenty years previously had employed an estimated 230 people and once predicted a work force of 500 employees by 2000 suffered when the technology bubble burst in 2001. (2)

John Biver, in 2006 the company president and chief executive officer, returned to purchase the company's stock. He changed the firm's publicly traded status to a private enterprise and sold off most of its entities focusing on the land development market. The company turned over much of its Westmark Drive corporate headquarters space to other firms. (3)

The corporate headquarters in 1996 were located at 4131 Westmark Drive. In 2009 the company announced that it would move its operations to Main Street. (4)

By 2023 EaglePoint Software was located on the second floor of the Star Brewery Building at the PORT OF DUBUQUE. The company's 'signature product' was the Pinnacle Series which offered a catalog of training videos, documents and other resources to help employees learn the company's technology. The system also offered translation into sixty languages. Biver claimed the system led to higher retention and efficiency of employees as they received instruction in their company's technology. He also remarked that architects and engineers out of school knew the theory, but not necessarily the technological tools.

In 2021 EaglePoint acquired KnowledgeSmart, a company based in the United Kingdom. While EaglePoint offered a training system, KnowledgeSmart provided a testing system serving the same kinds of customers. Together the two programs could test an employee of a customer organization to determine specific needs in their knowledge and then design a training course specific to that employee. EaglePoint in 2023 was working on a learning management system which would help organizations choose businesses to work on projects based on their credentials and licensing.

By 2023 EaglePoint customers numbered around 2,800 including such globally known firms as Amazon. The software development team in 2023 numbered twenty-five. (5)

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Source:

1. "Eagle Point Receives Export Award," Telegraph Herald, May 22, 1997, p. 7

2. Kittle, M. D., "Eagle Point Soaring Again," Telegraph Herald, March 25, 2006, p. 2

3. Ibid.

4. "Chronology," Telegraph Herald, January 1, 2010, p. 45

5. Reese, Kayli, "Expanding Its Wings," Telegraph Herald, March 26, 2023, p. 12C