Issue link: http://winesandvines.uberflip.com/i/331901
W i n e s & V i n e s J U LY 2 0 1 4 31 used it. While this program is constructed to handle grape production information to hand off to wine production, it does not delve into vineyard operations—nor does it extend into marketing and sales. There are several other companies in this group that cover a broad range of the industry's segments. For example, Orion has Blend for wine production and WiMS (Wine Inventory Management Systems) for point-of-sale, marketing and non-pro- duction functions of the wine and grape industry. In another example, while Microworks Technologies handles only sales, marketing and other non-produc- tion functions, it contains a wide array of modules for these functions. Production Most of the 20 companies listed in the Buyer's Guide as offering wine produc- tion software handle the record keeping necessary for wine production. However, Acrolon Technologies is limited to one very specific aspect of production: the control of tanks and the data manage- ment of that function. Their software can be linked to other providers of pro- duction-management systems. Similarly, Foss software is limited to a specific piece of laboratory equipment for wine analysis, and that can be linked to other vendors' software. Wine Management Systems is one of the first to offer SaaS (software as a service), and it's one of the complete suites to include wine production as one of its core technologies. The company's target market is small- to mid-sized wineries. For the smallest wineries, there is Fermsoft's Amphora Wine Log. For less than $100, a winery can obtain basic digital wine-production functions. Breckenridge Software Technologies has a suite of modules that is specific to the wine industry, but the company has developed a range of programs and ser- vices for other industries as well. Vineyard As with wine production, there are software companies that focus on ele- ments of farming and vineyard manage- ment. For example, Davis Instruments takes care of weather stations; Map- shots Inc. uses imaging techniques for crop management, and Brixmark han- dles grape harvesting and contract Winemaker's Database developed one of the earliest entries into the cellar software field. Fermsoft offers the Amphora Wine Log for small wineries to log and access cellar data. c o v e r s t o r y