CA continued its torrid acquisition pace today, acquiring self-healing software maker Control-F1 Corp. for an undisclosed sum.
Control-F1 makes SupportBridge, a suite of applications that prevents, detects and repairs desktop computer problems before they disrupt IT services.
Research analysts have been saying for years that corporate data centers need infrastructure software that can not only pinpoint computer problems that can cause faults and errors, but correct them without manual intervention from humans.
CA has taken that notion to heart.
The purchase should help the company’s enterprise customers significantly improve the productivity of their IT help desks and jazz up service levels for their end-users, said Lokesh Jindal, vice president of business service optimization at CA.
Jindal also said Control-F1 gives very direct return-on-investment benefits to customers because the more desktops an enterprise can automate, the more its IT costs go down.
The deal is a natural extension to the companies’ previous relationship in which SupportBridge software works with CA’s Unicenter Service Desk solutions to manage IT systems.
CA, which plans to retain Control-F1’s Calgary, Alberta, headquarters and most of its 40 employees, will market the Control-F1 solutions as standalone products and will incorporate them into its portfolio of business service optimization solutions.
Veer Gidwaney, founder and vice president of product marketing at Control-F1, who is joining CA as vice president of sales strategy and execution, said that by buying his company, CA will have technology that rivals IBM, HP and BMC don’t.
“What Control-F1 offers is very unique in the market place and amongst CA’s direct competitors CA has an advantage,” Gidwaney said, noting that CA’s service management chops make it the ideal company to sell Control-F1’s technology to a larger market.
However it shakes out, CA has begun 2006 with a bang to improve it EITM strategy.
Last week, the vendor offered to acquire application management powerhouse Wily Technology for $375 million in cash. Control-F1 is also designed to fill a cavity in EITM.
In the last two years or so, the Islandia, N.Y., company has acquired network management provider Concord Communications, single sign-on provider Netegrity and archiving specialist iLumin.
