TCP/IP and PC communications specialist NetManage Inc’s decided attack is the best form of defence, and in addition to shedding loss-making products has decided buying the competition is a good way to get back into the black (CI No 3,175). Yesterday it agreed to pay $26m for privately-held NetSoft Inc, another developer of PC-to-host connectivity software, evidence that there’s a shakeout going in the market for connecting desktops, Unix servers and mainframes into seamless network. IDC says that market was worth $2.27bn in 1996, rising to $2.94bn in 2001. NetSoft claims to have turned over $30m in its last financial year and has 200 staff. Netsoft recently won a multi-million dollar deal to provide provides connectivity to Unisys Corp’s integration services (CI No 3,107). It co-developed SNA Server for NetView with Microsoft Corp back in 1992 and also counts IBM and Novell as key business partners. NetManage will add NetSoft’s AS/400 communications software to its existing IBM SNA and Unix portfolio. NetManage lost $5.7m on revenue of $104.6m in 1996.
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