Sold! Autodesk's LBS Business

Autodesk had announced earlier it was getting out of the location-based services business. Today, its LBS division is sold to Hale Capital Partners.

Hale renames the division LocationLogic, but Autodesk keeps a toehold, because it is one of several minority investors. (Dunno who the others are.) The division has offices in Bangalore, Calgary, Kansas City, and San Rafael.

Autodesk is happy to rid itself of LBS, because the move allows... 

...Autodesk to focus its energies on its main line of business, which is creating software for the world's design professionals.

If this statement means "software yes, services no," then what of Buzzsaw?

Source.

Comments

[Paul Wilkinson]

Indeed, 'What of Buzzsaw?' But also what of Constructware?

Neither of these SaaS offerings fit comfortably within an organisation mainly focused on on-premise design software solutions.

[Ben Smuda]

You're right that those examples don't fit comfortably in their product suite, but Autodesk hasn't given up on SaaS. Autodesk Seek, and several Labs projects like Dragonfly, Draw, and Freewheel demonstrate this. What remains to be seen is how effective Autodesk can be at executing a SaaS model in parallel with their core business.