By Robin Gareiss, Nemertes Research

April 15, 2005

Computer Associates International Inc. (NYSE: CA) has spent $330 million in cash and $20 million in assumed debt for Concord Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: CCRD), which just a few months earlier acquired Aprisma Networks and Vitel Software. This supports a growing trend that Nemertes has predicted: Networks are becoming more complex, and management vendors are scurrying to offer the broad requirements companies need.

Exactly how CA plans to integrate all of these tools is questionable, though we do see some synergies between them. CA, known primarily for its systems-management suite, is wisely trying to expand into new areas. Concord’s flagship technology, eHealth, provides capacity planning and network-performance monitoring. Concord also addresses specific challenges in managing converged and wireless networks. And, Aprisma’s Spectrum software—now part of Concord—provides coveted root-cause analysis.

It’s vital for companies to have the right tools to manage their networks, and increasingly, they don’t. For example, roughly 70% of IT executives believe their overall systems-management tools or the management tools that come with gear (such as IP PBXs) will sufficiently manage their real-time applications. But they quickly realize that they need specialty tools to get information such as bandwidth utilization, quality-of-service performance statistics, business impact of outages, root-cause analysis, and real-time views of traffic.

The complete Impact Analysis is available to Nemertes clients. For more information, please contact Christine Zimmerman at christine@nemertes.com