arcserve spreads its wings as an independent company

By Gabey Goh August 28, 2014

Indie status to enable more agile, entrepreneurial approach to market
Accelerated investments in channel and marketing programmes expected

arcserve spreads its wings as an independent company

NOT long after it unveiled a fresh corporate identity and its new Unified Data Protection (UDP) platform in June, news emerged in August that arcserve will now be a standalone company.

The transition follows the completion of the data protection and recovery solutions provider’s sale to Marlin Equity Partners, a global investment firm with over US$3 billion of capital under management, by parent company CA Technologies.

In a statement announcing the change in ownership, arcserve chief executive officer Mike Crest said the company remains committed to its global network of distributors, resellers and service providers.

It currently serves about 43,000 customers around the globe, and boasts a presence in over 50 countries, with more than 100 distribution partners, along with a network of over 7,500 resellers and 700 managed services providers, arcserve claimed.

“We are looking forward to accelerating business opportunities and launching new programmes. Our continued focus is to cut through the complexity and clutter in our customers’ data protection infrastructures and deliver complete, simple and cost-effective solutions for virtual and physical systems,” Crest said.

The company declared that the change positions arcserve to enter “an exciting new expansion chapter” as an independent company, continuing the execution of its long-term growth strategy, touting advantages such as the embracement of an “agile and entrepreneurial” approach with accelerated investments and expanded market opportunities.

“In our recent fiscal year, we not only saw unprecedented growth, but we also launched a game-changing platform. Continuing our heritage as a very profitable organisation, our incremental investments in the business are positioning us to aggressively accelerate our growth,” Crest said in the statement.

CA Technologies had acquired arcserve, then known as Cheyenne, in 1996, and the divestiture of its data protection business forms part of CA Technologies' stated strategy to focus on its core technologies and growth with software-as-a-service (SaaS) products.

In an interview with UK-based Channel Pro, arcserve vice-president of worldwide sales Chris Ross said that CA Technologies and arcserve are very different companies, which was one of the factors behind the move to seek private funding.

While CA Technologies targets mainly very large enterprises, arcserve operates as a pure channel, go-to-market business that services a mix of companies from small and medium enterprises, to mid-market and enterprise-class entities.

According to Ross, other challenges being under the CA Technologies banner included difficulty in securing investments for strategic manoeuvring and getting enough airtime with customers as only one part of a larger portfolio of companies.

Outlook for Asia

Responding to email queries over how the change in ownership would affect the company’s operations in Asia, James Forbes May (pic), arcserve vice president of sales, said that feedback from customers and partners in the region has been positive.

“The move makes sense and we believe it’s a logical decision. [arcserve] had been acting as a very independent entity within CA Technologies with our own channel and programmes since three years ago, so this was a natural transition.

“Also, our partners and customers understand the market dynamics and realise that we are better positioned for growth at this stage being outside of CA,” he added.

Forbes May, formerly vice president of data management at CA Technologies Asia & Pacific, also claimed that since UDP’s launch earlier in the year, the offering has been well received in Asia Pacific markets.

“So much so that we have closed two of the largest UDP deals out of Asia Pacific, and the product only launched less than three months ago. We have also signed the largest MSP (managed service provider) deal out of the region on UDP.

“We are very excited about the adoption rate of this core product and it clearly demonstrates how much the market is crying out for a such product with best of breed features,” he declared.

With situations where customers have both CA Technologies and arcserve solutions, Forbes May said there is a little overlap but specific contractual transitions have been identified for these cases.

“We are working on this transition with CA Technologies very actively and have a transition services agreement in place because we want to provide a seamless transition for customers. This process has been carefully planned,” he claimed.

Forbes May said that there will be no short-term changes at arcserve’s Asia Pacific operations, with 'business as usual' for the company in fulfilling the investment plan put in place prior to the divesting announcement.

“Our focus will be to invest in the growth of our business, and you can expect an acceleration of technology horizons, and investments in our channel and marketing programmes. We are looking at both organic and inorganic growth.

“We see a tremendous opportunity to grow our business in Asia with the UDP solution, and plan to increase our brand awareness significantly, such as with public relations initiatives,” he said.

Asked what customers and industry can expect from a freshly independent arcserve in the coming year, Forbes May quipped: “More brand visibility, more communications, an aggressive push to grow our business and be a disruptive force in the market. We’re in it to win it!”