Dr Solomon’s Software Ltd has caught the acquisition virus from its competitor McAfee Associates Inc and taken on two products from Datawatch Corp, paying $16.75m. The products include Macintosh virus protection tool Virex and network and systems administration tool netOctopus, which works on both Macintosh and IBM-compatible personal computers, and mark Datawatch’s exit from the Macintosh software marketplace. Dr Solomon’s, a UK computer virus company based in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, will also take on key staff from Datawatch, including development, marketing and support people. As most Datawatch customers are in the States, Dr Solomon’s sees the acquisition as a means of expanding further beyond Europe. The company says it will now explore ways of enhancing both the Virex and its own Macintosh anti-virus tools via a process of cross-fertilisation. Core technology from netOctopus will be used to supplement the management edition of Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit and Dr Solomon’s Audit products. One of the reasons for the acquisition is because of the increased threat of viruses on the Macintosh through the popularity of Microsoft Office on the Mac, and its associated macro viruses. Before the rise of macro viruses, there were only a small number of Mac-specific viruses. Wilmington, Massachusetts-based Datawatch is left with non-Macintosh products such as the Monarch report mining tool and Q-Support, a help desk and asset management system acquired from the UK’s Workgroup Systems Ltd in March 1996.
