Columbus said this week it plans to utilize its January acquisition of Swedish iStone to take the Infor M3 (Lawson) product line global. The initiative is a major change for Columbus which had concentrated on the Dynamics line and its internally developed Columbus Software.

A weak pipeline in the United States hurt Columbus in the first quarter ended March 31 and drug down North American results. "We did not close enough deals in Q4 and it impacted us in Q1," CEO Thomas Honoré said during this week's earnings webcast in describing the problems in this country. No other details about the pipeline shortage were discussed. The company reported North American revenue dropped by 15.3 percent for the first quarter ended March 31, while EBIDTA for the continent fell 78 percent from last year's corresponding period.