History
The Beginning
The program’s original name was HAS (Humphries Automotive System). This is why the program folder and executables are named HAS5 – with the “5” representing version five. The program was designed in the early 1980’s led by Stan Humphries whom was, interestingly, an Air Canada pilot. The head office was located in Burlington ON, Canada.
The Expansion to the USA
To help with costs and management of the U.S. expansion plans, an outside partner was brought in. Problems ensued and within eighteen months the PACE Business Manager (PACE) was sold to Triad Systems and within one month was in turn bought by CCI Systems and renamed CCI/Triad, which was renamed Activant Solutions Inc. In 2003.
In May 2011, Activant was purchased and merged with Epicor Software Corporation which was owned by Apax Partners, a UK-based, London headquartered, private equity investment group.
Although unconfirmed, it would be safe to guess that the entire acquisition & merger history was driven by the parts cataloguing business. Triad would have bought PACE for the customer base with the intention of embedding their parts cataloguing system for a monthly subscription, which they did.
The Epicor Chapter
Epicor Software Corporation acquired Activant Solutions in May 2011. This acquisition was part of a strategic move by Apax Partners, a private equity firm, to combine both companies into a single entity. Following the merger, the combined company continued under the Epicor name… PR Newswire
As of 2025, searchces indicate Epicor (through Activant Solutions) still owns the PACE software rights.
In the Spring of 2015, Epicor’s remaining product support specialist for PACE, served notice that he was leaving to pursue other opportunities. Activant management apparently decided that it was no longer feasible to hire and train a replacement to provide this specialized service. There were still several shops paying monthly support but I suspect the revenue was marginal compared to the costs of running a support centre for PACE.
It is not clear when sales of the program ended but Activant support for PACE ceased entirely on Nov 01, 2015. All PACE accounts have been closed and that’s that.