BMC Software Inc, the Houston, Texas-based system management software house, has unveiled a services arm which Richard Strachan, UK head of BMC’s Professional Services division in the UK, expects will represent as much as 25% of the firm’s total revenue within two to three years. With a staff of 16, the UK arm is hiring consultants at a rate of four or five a quarter.

The company’s services wing will provide maintenance, monitoring and support. Strachan says that he expects the organization to do much of its business dealing with enterprise resource planning and e-commerce applications, particularly in the vertical markets of financial services and government.

Although BMC has always provided services, says Strachan, the move towards a separate services element has been formalized by the appointment of Chip Nemesi from IBM Global Services as vice president of professional services. Strachan says that BMC’s Professional Services will be differentiated from other firms who provide enterprise service management, such as Computer Associates and Tivoli, because BMC will concentrate on individual applications rather than a framework-centered approach which looks at the whole project. BMC has already made a number of partnerships in the UK for implementation and support services including Proxima, Kernel Tweaks, Morse and Amdah.