Computer Associates International Inc has triumphed when McAfee Associates failed in April (CI No 2,894), and has acquired backup software house Cheyenne Software Inc through a cash tender offer for $30.50 per share, $1.2bn all told. In contrast to the McAfee bid, the two firms say, there is no overlap between CA and Cheyenne: Cheyenne has been pushing its storage management products into the Windows NT and Novell NetWare environments, and sells 95% of its product indirectly through OEMs and distributors, while CA is still largely a direct sales organization that has concentrated on the wider enterprise market. The move marks a recognition by CA that desktops and Windows NT are now an important part of its enterprise brief. It will take on all of Cheyenne’s 800 staff, based in Roslyn Heights, not so far from its own Islandia, New York-based headquarters, and will run it as a separate division under present CEO ReiJane Huai. CA already uses Cheyenne technology within its Unicenter systems management software, but now promises further integration between Unicenter and Cheyenne’s hierarchical storage management and RAID technologies, and a combination of CA’s policy-based security products with Cheyenne’s anti-virus software. CA also hopes Cheyenne’s partnerships with firms such as Compaq, Hewlett-Packard and Intel can be expanded through the new deal, and will push Cheyenne’s software to its own close partners Tandem and Data General. Because of the synergy, CA’s chief executive Charles Wang said he expected no dilution to occur: Cheyenne is currently growing at around 30% per annum. The tender offer, not yet published, is due out by Friday. During its enforced quite period, Computer Associates has been building up its revenues and it is able to fund the acquisition through cash balances and existing credit facilities. The firm must have had a change of heart since earlier this year, when it told Computergram that rumors it was about to buy Cheyenne were ridiculous (CI No 2881).
