ScriptLogic Sees Opportunity in Consolidation

Jason Judge, CEO of the Boca Raton, Fla., vendor, told CRN he plans to leverage future acquisitions plus ScriptLogic's 15,700 customer installed base and its 400 resellers to take on heavyweights in network security and other critical network-management areas.

"I would say the folks that are competitive in [those areas] right now are pretty well-heeled and have a cult following at the customer base. That can be both good or bad," Judge said.

ScriptLogic, maker of Windows-centric network administration software such as Desktop Authority and Patch Authority software, just bought MaSai Solutions Dec. 1 for an undisclosed amount. MaSai brings advanced Windows installer technology that will be integrated with ScriptLogic&'s other lines within eight weeks, Judge said.

"We are in a build or buy mode right now," he said.

Consolidation among vendors and their technologie,s and feedback from channel partners that say they like dealing with fewer vendors is helping drive ScriptLogic's aspiration to expand its reach, said Nick Cavalancia, vice president of product marketing.

"The idea that partners are trying to consolidate vendors is all about the relationship. I don't want to have several trivial relationships, I'd rather have a best friend I can have a very good relationship with," Cavalancia said.

For solution providers, consolidation throws the long standing best-of-breed-vendor approach in reverse, Judge said.

"As a vendor, you can't be a one-trick pony anymore," said Larry Letow, COO of Convergence Technology Consulting, a solution provider and ScriptLogic partner in Bowie, Md. "And it's important to us to see ScriptLogic expand. We don't want to represent 500 products from 500 different vendors."

The platform-like nature of ScriptLogic's product line lends itself well to an expansion of capabilities, Cavalancia said.

"We are listening to our customers and partners who are telling us they want to consolidate vendors," he said. "Desktop Authority isn't so much a solution as it is a platform. It pushes out configuration and patch management and anti-spyware and remote management. It's a platform that already has its fingers in every point of the desktop."

A more comprehensive ScriptLogic offering dished up like a hosted service ala Salesforce.com could also be on the menu in the future, Cavalancia said.

"We have been approached by larger companies to do that, but we haven't done that yet. It's something that we are talking about and concentrating on right now," he said.