Computer Associates’ purchase of Concord Communications is set to go through later this summer.
Concord provides business service management software solutions, including proactive network performance management and predictive capacity planning. The proposed purchase of Concord will provide CA with Concord’s eHealth technology and, as the move comes hot on the heels of Concord’s own acquisitions in recent months, CA will acquire the former Vitel and Aprisma technologies. Vitel Software provided performance management solutions for managing telecommunications systems, and Aprisma Management Technologies’ software manages the health and performance of networks and business services.
Some believe that CA has paid too high a price for Concord; however, it will enable the company to add network management tools to the Unicenter product range, and to gain networking skills in the telecommunications market. It is rumoured that CA was beaten at the post by Concord in acquiring Aprisma a short time ago. If this is true, then CA has played its trump card, and demonstrated its determination to provide customers with broader and deeper network management to complement its product range.
This acquisition comes quickly after CA purchased Netegrity, and experience has shown that such deals do not necessarily bring success. However, the fact that Concord’s product range and people complement CA gives it a fair chance. Also, the differing sizes of the acquiring company and the acquired company seem to comply with the successful acquisition model that has been adopted by such companies as Cisco.
CA has undergone a traumatic time over the past few years, but last September announced that it had reached agreements with the US Department of Justice and the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the recognition of revenue and reporting practices from the beginning of 1998 to September 30, 2000.
It will hope that these troubles are now history, and that it can look forward with confidence to a reorganised structure and an expanded product range. The acquisition will strengthen CA’s position to match all types of competition in the enterprise systems and network management market space.
Source: OpinionWire by Butler Group (www.butlergroup.com)
