CA World 2008: Not the Same Old Computer Associates
CA Inc. (formerly Computer Associates International) is in Las Vegas this week, hosting its CA World partner and customer conference. It’s an opportune time for The VAR Guy to ask: Can partners trust this latest iteration of CA — which includes a new managed services and SaaS (software as a service) push? The VAR Guy sure seems to think so. Here’s why.
First, a little history. The VAR Guy thinks CA is in its third generation as a company. During CA 1.0, company co-founder Charles Wang built Computer Associates into a leading mainframe software provider through home-grown applications as well as mergers and acquisitions.
In CA 2.0, Wang gradually handed leadership to Sanjay Kumar. In case you missed it, that error (oops, era) had a tragic ending involving accounting scandals and Kumar going to jail.
CA 3.0: Swainson, SaaS and Managed Services
In CA 3.0, current CEO John Swainson (an IBM veteran) has gradually restored CA’s credibility with Wall Street, customers and partners. In particular, Swainson certainly seems to have earned Wall Street’s trust.
At CAWorld, the company showed some channel loyalty by launching an on demand disaster recovery service that’s only available through partners. The CA Instant Recovery On Demand service could allow CA to compete more effectively against a range of fast-growing online storage services — including the Symantec Protection Network.
Still, The VAR Guy isn’t suggesting CA is fully repaired. CA’s direct sales force spent nearly three decades practicing aggressive tactics that rubbed some customers and partners the wrong way. (How’s that for a tactfully written sentence about the old CA?)
Changing CA’s DNA has required Swainson’s tireless efforts. So far, so good.
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