Intangible Assets

12 Months Ended

Dec. 31, 2011

Intangible Assets [Abstract]

Intangible Assets

4.           Intangible Assets

Intangible assets subject to amortization at December 31, 2011 consisted of the following:

	Gross Carrying		Accumulated
(In $000s)	Amount		Amortization		Net
Customer contracts	$	59,240	$	37,763	$	21,477
Acquired technology		26,757		23,129		3,628
Patents		24,125		10,205		13,920
Distributor and provider networks		8,709		6,148		2,561
Perpetual license to survey-based data		21,956		1,607		20,349
Other		5,067		3,054		2,013
Total	$	145,854	$	81,906	$	63,948

Intangible assets subject to amortization at December 31, 2010 consisted of the following:

	Gross Carrying		Accumulated
(In $000s)	Amount		Amortization		Net
Customer contracts	$	55,240	$	31,586	$	23,654
Acquired technology		26,757		21,090		5,667
Patents		23,987		7,771		16,216
Distributor and provider networks		8,709		4,986		3,723
Perpetual license to survey-based data		15,000		828		14,172
Other		2,487		1,614		873
Total	$	132,180	$	67,875	$	64,305

Intangible assets subject to amortization are being amortized over estimated useful lives ranging from three to 25 years.  Total amortization expense for the years ended December 31, 2011, 2010, and 2009, was $13.4 million, $12.4 million, and $12.7 million, respectively.  The following table summarizes the estimated amortization expense for each of the next five years and thereafter:

(In $000s)
Year ending December 31,
2012	$	12,043
2013		11,856
2014		10,419
2015		6,141
2016		4,369
2017 and thereafter		19,120
Total	$	63,948

Intangible assets not subject to amortization at December 31, 2011 and 2010 consist of trade names of $29.0 million and $29.9 million, respectively.  In the fourth quarter of 2011, we decided to discontinue the use of one of our trade names. As a result of this decision, we recorded an impairment loss of $0.9 million in December 2011 to write off this intangible asset (see Note 7).