BMC Software Monday agreed to acquire the assets of Magic Solutions from security software provider Network Associates
for about $47 million in cash to boost its offerings for small- and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
BMC, who competes with IBM, Computer Associates
and Microsoft,
inked the deal to bring its already strong IT management software stack to SMBs, which make up the majority of Magic’s customer base of over 4,000.
Magic writes help desk software, which automates business processes and ensures that organizations effectively communicate, organize, track and report transactions. Flagship products include Magic Service Desk and Magic Help DeskIQ.
Research firms are predicting unprecedented growth in the SMB space and more and more companies are looking to acquire businesses, or assets that address this red-hot market. Houston’s BMC hopes to benefit from a healthy number of Magic’s SMB customers.
BMC executives said on a conference call that Magic products would be rolled into the company’s service management unit, Remedy, which caters to some 7,000 enterprise-level, mid- to upper-tier customers.
As for Santa Clara, Calif.’s Network Associates, CFO and COO Stephen Richards said on a brief conference call that he and the executive management team were offloading Magic because they didn’t consider it to be a core competency.
Richards said Network Associates, which competes in a crowded market with the likes of Symantec, Guardent and Internet Security Solutions, will work harder to improve the sales of its Sniffer network protection software and other security software products.
The acquisition, which is expected to close within 60 days, will add some 200 Magic Solutions employees to BMC’s Remedy
business unit.