Ultracomp, the 18-year-old systems management software company, does not fit the classic profile of a hot young company. Managing director David Olivey says the company is self-financed and independent, admits it approaches new opportunities cautiously, and says there are no plans to go public. By another measure, however, Ultracomp is hot. Its revenues will shoot up from just 9m pounds in 1997 to an expected 14.5m by the end of fiscal 1999. Software licenses make up about half of Berkshire-based Ultracomp’s revenues, although Olivey attributes the company’s recent encouraging growth to a more aggressive consultancy push. But new systems management products are key to its forecast of revenue growth, says Olivey. The company was founded in 1981 by three ICL employees. Olivey, who was online services manager at ICL, joined five years later. Although at first Ultracomp remained tied to the kind of mainframe consultancy services its founders had been familiar with at ICL, they soon began to build their own software products and move away from the mainframe. The company now has a range of systems management and related products. The most successful is its Red Box service management and helpdesk product for Unix systems and PCs. This year, Ultracomp plans to take a significant step forward. A new framework systems management product called UltraFrame-Works, due in the first quarter of 1999, will place Ultracomp alongside the ‘big two’ systems management vendors Computer Associates and Tivoli, says Olivey. Many customers want the kind of scalable products Computer Associates and Tivoli provide, but at a lower price, he says. These products dominate the systems management market, but are not widely used by smaller companies. Olivey’s top priority for 1999 is to expand Ultracomp into the US market, where it currently has no presence. Despite strong returns in 1998 and healthy demand for its products, says Olivey, real growth was hindered by a lack of skilled professionals. We take a long time researching both potential partners and future employees, he says. Ultracomp currently has 120 employees, all based in its nine UK offices. About one-third of Ultracomp’s business is with UK local government authorities. As for potential acquisitions, Olivey’s attitude remains characteristically cautious: We’ve never contemplated an acquisition in the past, but it is something to start considering if we are to continue growing.
