Nimsoft: CA Technologies Owns Us… But We’re Independent
When CA Technologies acquired Nimsoft in early 2010, plenty of pundits openly wondered if CA’s enterprise culture would clash with Nimsoft’s outspoken, fast-moving style in the managed services market. But a new blog post from Nimsoft CEO Gary Read suggests that Nimsoft’s culture continues to march forward. Plus, there are signs a broader managed services strategy is taking hold across CA Technologies. Here’s the update.
A November 18th blog post from Read states:
“The relationship with our CA counterparts is a good one and continues to improve all the time. It has been a little “unnatural” for many folks at CA to think of Nimsoft as independent but for the most part, everyone is accepting it, moving on and allowing us to just “get the job done”.
Read between the lines and I suspect CA has been hands off with Nimsoft because Nimsoft remains in growth mode. But the story doesn’t end there. Nimsoft’s focus on the managed services market seems to be spilling over into additional CA departments. Already, groups like CA ARCserve have introduced new licensing models to assist VARs and MSPs with recurring revenue opportunities. Over time, that approach will become standard at CA, I believe.
It’s also safe to expect more coordinated work between CA’s managed services efforts and sweeping cloud effort, led by Adam Famularo, general manager of CA’s Cloud Customer Solutions Unit.
CA deserves credit: Nimsoft apparently remains a nimble organization within the broader CA enterprise. And CA seems to be taking the managed services opportunity far more seriously than some other large, entrenched IT security software companies.
Who’s Your Competition?
But CA can’t afford to rest on its laurels. Some critics still look at CA as the old software company that allegedly strong-armed some CIOs into painful long-term contracts. Plus, CA’s competitive landscape is evolving. Even as CA battles established rivals like Symantec, new rivals are popping up in the world of online backup and managed security.
Here again, though, CA seems to be studying market trends closely. One prime example: John Lacorte, senior director for MSP strategy at CA, has spent recent weeks attending the N-able Partner Summit and the IT Nation conference. He’s taking notes and building CA relationships with companies like LabTech Software, Level Platforms and N-able.
In the 1990s, I doubt the old Computer Associates would have embarked on such relationships. The reason: LabTech, Level Platforms and N-able compete on some fronts with CA’s Nimsoft business. But in modern times, CA realizes you need to both compete and cooperate in the MSP market. Plus, Nimsoft CEO Gary Read has openly stated that he doesn’t fear CA’s engagements with rival RMM (remote monitoring and management) software providers.
As long as Nimsoft continues to meet or exceed CA’s growth targets, I suspect Read and his team will enjoy plenty of independence within the larger CA. But at the same time, it’s clear that the ARCserve team and other organizations within CA are striving to replicate Nimsoft’s success in the MSP space. And over time, watch for CA to introduce a blanket managed services model for its entire software portfolio.
Oh, and what is Read working on next? He hints:
“Our product roadmap is excellent and our ability to deliver against it continues. We’ve got some major, major news up our sleeves but that will have to wait for another day.”
MSPmentor will be waiting…
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