MatrixOne began in 1983 as Adra Systems, a maker of engineering software, and reinvented itself for the internet just in time for the 2000 IPO window. The Chelmsford, Massachusetts company sold collaboration software for manufacturers. Engineers, buyers and outside suppliers could all work from the same designs, part lists and change orders. In March 2000, the Nasdaq was at its peak, and any company with an internet story could find buyers for its shares.

From Adra to eMatrix

Adra Systems was incorporated in Delaware in July 1983. It shipped the first version of its business collaboration software in November 1993 and released an internet version in March 1997. The company later took the name MatrixOne and launched its eMatrix suite in June 1999. The bet was that big manufacturers would stop passing drawings by fax and email. They would manage a product's whole life, from first sketch to retirement, in one shared system.

Twenty-Five Dollars to Seven

MatrixOne priced its IPO at $25 a share on March 1, 2000, days before the Nasdaq peaked. The crash that followed hit software companies hard, and MatrixOne moved its headquarters to nearby Westford. In March 2006, Dassault Systèmes, the French maker of CATIA design software, agreed to buy MatrixOne for $7.25 a share in cash. The deal closed in May 2006, and MatrixOne became part of Dassault's ENOVIA product line.

Cover: Shipbuilder's Yard, Liverpool, James McNeill Whistler. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for a shipbuilder's yard (building complex products).