Network Associates announced an agreement to acquire Magic Solutions in a cash purchase transaction valued at approximately $110 million.
Network Associates, formerly McAfee Associates, said the merger solidifies its position as the world’s largest provider of internal help desk applications for the Microsoft NT operating environment, and the second largest provider of client/server service desk solutions overall.
In addition, the combination creates the largest dedicated sales and services organization in the internal service desk market, the company said.
Network Associates and Magic Solutions both offer products that serve different segments of the internal help desk market. Magic Solutions introduced the industry’s first packaged support application in 1988 and currently has an installed base of more than 5,000 Fortune 1000 companies. It is best known for its release of SupportMagic 4.0.
Network Associates claims its McAfee ServiceDesk has the largest market share
of comparable products running on NT platforms. It combines traditional
call tracking and problem resolution help desk functionality
with advanced desktop management software, “self-healing” PC technology,
and automated fault analysis and resolution.
SupportMagic/SQL and McAfee Total ServiceDesk, will continue to be sold and supported. The companies plan to combine development resources to deliver an integrated product, which will feature a unified data model, architecture, and user interface, and is expected to be released before the end of 1998.
“This substantial investment in the internal help desk market reflects our
commitment to the market and to the customers of both companies,” said Zach
Nelson, general manager of Network Associates’ Total ServiceDesk Division.
“We continue to expand the Total ServiceDesk solution to create an integrated
application that manages the procurement, deployment, and support of a
company’s technology assets. This merger gives us the ability to accelerate
our delivery of this vision while supporting customers on a global basis.”
