Its an interesting move. Gives them a presence in the SME market in Europe, coming after their purchase of Great Plains for the US SME market in late 2000. Wonder who theyll look at in Asia.
According to a Merrill Lynch report, Navision sells ERP and CRM software to small and medium sized businesses, predominantly in EMEA (85% of total revenue). Navision has been Microsoft-centric for some time and runs its apps on SQL Server. [EMEA = Europe, Middle East and Africa]
The definition of small and medium businesses varies greatly across the world. Asia has lots of exporters, especially in China and South-East Asia. Given the price points for the software (which will obviously be denominated in USD), the bottom of the enterprise pyramid will still remain untapped.
Also see: News.com story on the purchase, and Gartners take.
