Tech Watch | InfoWorld Staff » Security marriages a mouthful

April 27, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Security marriages a mouthful

TAGS: Security

Collective cries of "Who?" and "Huh?" were heard on Wall Street and in many a news room today after: Avocent's purchase of LANDesk and AttachmateWRQ's purchase of NetIQ. (So "AttachmateWRQNetIQ"? Never mind that this is almost $1 billion worth of acquisition activity that barely registered in the media (Reuters story on the NetIQ deal is all of two paragraphs), when Steve Jobs drops $12.50 on some bagels on the way to work and it's front page news.

But the match-ups are insightful:

LANDesk, which spun off from Intel, sells integrated desktop security amangement tools, like patch and asset management software and has deals with major PC makers like Lenovo. Avocent, based in the IT mecca of Huntsville, AL, sells technology for managing data centers and branch offices. Together, the companies will combine Avocent's DSView 3 management software with LANDesk's architecture, allowing centralized network- and security management of servers, desktops, and data centers.

Pretty cool -- though it looks like the newlyweds will be sleeping in separate beds, Rob and Laura style, with LANDesk preserving "its organizational identity while becoming part of a well-capitalized enterprise with excellent prospects for accelerated growth," according to a statement attributed to CEO Joe Wang.

For AttachmateWRQ, which is based in Seattle and owned by an investment group, the draw was the draw was NetIQ's systems and security management, which will be married to Attachmate's Reflection terminal emulation product, allowing companies to better manage security on LANs and out at remote/home and branch offices. I'm guessing here, but it's hard to tell from the company's press release which is filled with M&A Redi-Whip statements like "This acquisition brings together two leading companies with complementary strategic visions and technology, and a shared commitment to customer satisfaction." and "AttachmateWRQ, with NetIQ, is uniquely prepared to provide mission-critical enterprise software to enable customers to extend, manage and secure their IT infrastructures."

But look no further than the big smilies that Citrix's recent acquisition of application security company NetScaler put on that company's Q1 results, and NetIQ's sluggish Q3 numbers and you get the idea. These two are better off together than apart.

Posted by Paul Roberts on April 27, 2006 12:46 PM

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