Potential Symantec MSP Moves: Level Platforms, Others Keep Watch
When I heard Symantec is potentially preparing to acquire a remote monitoring and management (RMM) software company, I reached out to a range of industry executives for perspective. Quite a few executives gave me a polite “no comment” reply. But Level Platforms CEO Peter Sandiford weighed in with some bigger-picture perspectives on the evolving RMM market. Here they are.
I asked Sandiford if Symantec was looking at Level Platforms as one of its potential RMM acquisition targets. Sandiford didn’t address the question directly, but he did take some time to share his views on the evolving RMM market. In an email reply to me, Sandiford wrote:
My recent blog on large companies entering the RMM market attempted to describe why I think that every technology business with a stake in the SMB market needs to have a clear strategy to deal with the fundamental channel transformation that RMM is bringing to the market. I would certainly expect a market leader like Symantec to be thinking about this.
Sandiford was quick to point out that Level Platforms continues to maintain a broad, open approach to software and hardware industry partnerships:
Level Platforms strategy is to support the full SMB ecosystem including vendors of devices, applications and services deployed by SMBs. We continue to work on a confidential basis with more than 100 SMB vendors in order to enhance the success of their products and business strategies as a result of the new world of possibilities created by remote monitoring and management.
Reinforcing that strategy, Level Platforms is preparing additional cross-company initiatives that should debut in April 2010. Sandiford wrote:
A significant number of our MSP partners enjoy opportunities to pilot cutting edge vendor initiatives now in the pipeline. We have several announcements of market-ready initiatives along these lines in the works right now for release in April.
Rounding back to my original question about Symantec’s potential interest in the MSP software market, Sandiford wrote “Along with you and I’m sure many of your readers, I look forward to seeing any announcements involving Symantec.”
Wait and See
So, is Symantec truly interested in the RMM software industry? I’ve heard on-again/off-again chatter for about a year. The rumors started again last week, when three separate MSP sources told me Symantec was evaluating at least two RMM companies for potential takeover. And over the weekend (April 3-4, 2010), I heard from half-a-dozen additional MSP sources who said Symantec had indeed been probing the market.
I realize there’s a big difference between researching a market and actually making an acquisition. We’ll continue watching Symantec closely and we’ve also got calls into them for comment.
Sign up for MSPmentor’s weekly Enewsletter, Webcasts and Resource Center. And follow us via RSS; Facebook; Identi.ca; and Twitter. Plus, check out more MSP voices at www.MSPtweet.com.
Symantec has lots of cash and likes to play in lots of sandboxes. I’m not totally impressed by what they bring to the table post-acquisition, especially from a reseller standpoint, as their bureaucracy is just a few degrees beyond stifling.
Though these kinds of developments may be fruitful for the MSP companies themselves, I’m not sure this translates into good tidings for the MSP service companies. Ask former Silverback vendors how their experiences have changed since Dell bought it. I’m not sure it’s been something that improved their fortunes and opportunities to the positive.
Scott: Thanks for your observations. Too often, media members (myself included) hype potential MA deals without really thinking through the potential implications for partners and customers. We’ll continue working hard to offer both sides of an MA story — the potential upsides, and downsides.
Oh, plus one other update: I just heard from trusted sources that Symantec has not been in discussions with Kaseya, so that’s one software provider that’s off the list as a potential target (for now)…
Best,
-jp
Amazing how a company run so poorly can have so much cash. Glad to hear Kaseya is not a target (for now)… 😉
Amazing how a company that’s run so poorly can have so much cash.
Potential Update: LANDesk is up for sale.
-jp
I sincerely hope they aren’t talking to LPI. LPI has some big challenges but what has kept us as a loyal customer for many years is that they keep trying to address them. Some they do, some they don’t, but they just keep plugging away and I appreciate and respect that.
I can also confirm what Scott said above as a former Altiris Gold partner and Veritas partner, as well as current Symantec Silver partner, and shareholder. All that company seems to care about is buying other companies – not buying and then taking advantage of their new acquisitions. That sounds harsh but that’s the truth. They are a key partner of ours and do a lot of things right – but I hope to God they don’t acquire and then destroy LPI because all they seem to do is buy companies and mess things up because they don’t spend time and energy to FOCUS on what they’ve just bought post-acquisition. And forget about them actually asking their partners and customers what THEY want post acquisition. To me that’s a dangerous sign that upper management doesn’t really care about the company, it’s customers, or it’s partners – they’re just concerned with growth and stock price manipulation.
Now, if they acquired LPI (for example) and then invested in them and LISTENED to their partners, they have the resources to help take LPI to the next level much faster. But judging based on our experience as a partner for the last decade, I’d be wary of them acquiring LPI at this point. They’d take a good company and make it mediocre if history is any indication. Until current SYMC leadership changes, I don’t see this pattern changing either. The results speak for themselves – that company needs to start doing a much better job of LISTENING.
Let them go buy someone else.
Dan: Thanks for sharing your experiences. I don’t have an update on Symantec’s potential MSP software moves. But I do have an update on Symantec’s business health. You’ll find it here.
-jp