IML Acquires Third Firm This Year

IML, a subsidiary of Canton, Mass.-based Computershare that supplies interactive audience response systems for tradeshows and meetings, has acquired Machine Dreams, another company that supplies the same kind of service. It is IML's third acquisition of a potential competitor since January.

Financial terms were not disclosed, according to Simon Bryan, operations manager for IML North America. He did say Machine Dreams, with offices in Minneapolis and New York City, will be absorbed into IML.

“We have been strategic partners for a number of years, and it seemed a good time for us to become one,” Bryan said of the two companies that offer similar products.

IML's wireless keypad system instantly polls audience responses at conferences and sessions and delivers results that can be immediately displayed back to the audience. The keypad also enables audiences to send text messages and vote during interactive PowerPoint presentations and includes a built-in microphone for question-and-answer sessions.

IML CEO Richard Taylor said Machine Dreams has research and development capabilities that IML does not have, which means the acquisition may allow the company to expand its client base and market.

The other audience response service providers IML recently acquired are Ezicomms in Australia and Four Points in Belgium. According to Bryan, “like Machine Dreams, we had a very close relationship with both of them, as they were strategic partners and distributors of our products in their respective countries. So actually it was an obvious and painless fit for our global expansion.”

As for IML's growth, he added “We are one of the global leaders in the audience interaction world, so it is important to have a local presence for our clients, many of whom have a similar global reach as ourselves.”