Platinum Technology Inc, fresh from its buying spree, has agreed to integrate its systems management tools with Hewlett-Packard Co’s OpenView Solution Framework. Platinum sees the non-exclusive deal as a foothold in the systems management market, where for all of its 17 acquisitions, it still has only a small presence, compared with a giant like Computer Associates International Inc, whom it’s chasing. News of the deal apparently irritated Computer Associates, but Platinum wasn’t sure whether that was because of the Platinum-Hewlett-Packard relationship or because Computer Associates now has Platinum on its radar screens and is getting nervous about any move it makes. Platinum sees the OpenView agreement as a stamp of approval on its products. In the deal, Hewlett-Packard gains an integrated suite of tools that target customers moving from MVS to Unix – a favourite Hewlett-Packard haunt. Platinum will provide tools for managing problems, software distribution, performance, jobs and security. Multiple products are sometimes required for each function, so Platinum will have 10 to 12 products for OpenView. In common with Hewlett-Packard’s other OpenView deals, Platinum must certify its tools for OpenView by itself based on documentation that Platinum systems management division marketing manager Susan Kahles described as being 1.5 thick. Its schedule calls for the first three products – performance management, Xfer software distribution product and AutoSYS – to be certified by the first quarter of 1996, but it said that the work will be done by the end of this year. Remaining products are supposed to be completed by second quarter, but Kahles said that they would be finished by April. Hewlett-Packard will have the right to distribute the tools, the same as Platinum’s off-the-shelf products, but Platinum’s 250-person sales force could take over in a sale oriented toward system management, where its people are better trained and Hewlett-Packard is primarily focused on hardware; Platinum’s tools will run on both Unix and Windows NT.
