Following their summer agreement to work more closely on systems management and other software technologies (CI No 2,449) ICL Plc has decided to sell its TeamDistributor and Open Systems Management Centre Distribution Manager and Operations Manager modules to Computer Associates International Inc for an undisclosed amount. The Islandia, New York software giant will offer them as Software Delivery, DB Alert and Systems Alert components for its CA-Unicenter systems management suite. ICL has transferred 23 staff working on the software to local Computer Associates subsidiaries in the UK and Sweden and the latter will be responsible for future development of the products, though ICL will continue to support its own users. The modules provide software distribution and remote operating system and database error detection across a range of Unixes, NetWare, Windows NT and OS/2 local networks, Windows and MS-DOS, plus CA-OpenIngres, Oracle, Informix and Sybase databases. ICL says the move is part of its retrenchment from development towards integration and provision of third party offerings – ICL already bundles CA-UniCenter with its TeamServer and SuperServer boxes. Computer Associates will extend the ICL software to run on other systems supported by CA-UniCenter, including RS/6000 and AS/400, and will integrate the ICL interface into its product. The work is expected to be complete by mid-1995. ICL is still negotiating for Computer Associates to market its TeamOffice groupware, including AccessManager, in the US – ICL says it has no plans to sell them outright. CA-Unicenter/Systems Alert for Windows is from $2,500 for 100 desk-tops. DB/Alert is from $500. Software Delivery starts at $4,000 for 100 desk-tops.
