“Computer Associates (CA), where products go to die!”
If you were around in the late 90’s and early noughties, the
statement above was industry standard and after a brief rename to the COOL
range from Sterling Software prior to the CA acquisition in 2000 the tools
known as Synon (now CA 2E) and Obsydian/Plex (now CA Plex) have been maintained
and supported by CA.
Correction from above…. CA did in fact (the early years)
innovate with the tools quite frequently and with good features and
enhancements. CA were responsible for
the introduction of the Web Option, Triggers, RPGILE Generator, numerous SQL’s
updates and Web Services for 2E as well as .NET Generator for CA Plex (no small
feat), Web Services publication and consumption as well as keeping up with a
myriad of technology platform refreshes Plex required.
All in all, a reasonable job.
Perhaps a 6 out of 10.
Okay, 5.
The point being that these products didn’t go to CA to die. However,
in recent years with development budgets reduced and key personnel leaving the
rate of change has stalled significantly.
So much so that nowadays a release highlight are items that would have
been reserved for minor features or even bug fixes in years gone by.
Whilst the tools haven’t died they are clearly in
maintenance mode. CA moved this group of
products to sustaining engineering. This
has a negative context whilst a product is in decline and I feel that other
low-code options with better target platforms coverage have emerged into a
space once dominated by case and code generation tooling.
Last week Broadcom announced a cash buyout of CA
Technologies for over 18b dollars.
Broadcom doesn’t do software…they are a semiconductor business
so what does CA provide them:-
- They may be diversifying their offerings and
product range. Perhaps there are some
key products in the CA range that assist in their growth or CA has strong
alliances with certain business verticals or a client base the parent
organisation may wish to gain access to.
- Or this is purely a financial decision. They may have too much cash to burn and need
to spend it quickly. They buy a solid
company with a long and attractive maintenance trailing revenue stream and
secure long term (almost guaranteed) recurring revenue. Most likely this means they won’t need to pay
any corporation tax for the next year or two as they assimilate this monster of
a business.
Perhaps a mix of both but my money is on the second option
and that this is merely a financially driven strategic purchase.
There certainly isn’t any institutional importance for the
CA development tools business i.e. CA 2E, CA Plex and CA Gen. Although these areas are likely to show very
high ROI i.e. cost vs revenue on the reporting charts I very much doubt they’ll
get anymore focus than they there are currently getting.
Now it would appear, that the final resting place for these
(once wonderful and genius) tools is going to be Broadcom. The new statement being “Broadcom, a place
where CA Technologies development tools go to die!”
STOP THE PRESS!!!!!!!
Hopefully not, I hope that the residual value and with opportunities
in a safe pair of hands i.e. a company with a low code focus. It is possible to
recapture the essence of CASE and reinvigorate these tools.
Probability?:
< 10% if Broadcom don’t want to relinquish these tools.
Lee’s take out!
Sadly, it’s probably time to work out what the next big
thing is… These tools are now compliance/maintenance focused (at best) and will
be stabilised (cease to be supported) as soon as the revenue trail drops below x, whatever x is.
x for CA or
Broadcom is far higher than x for a
passionate low-code only vendor. I beg
Broadcom to review the business units at CA and seek a buyer (at a fair price)
so this technology has a chance to thrive once more. These tools practically invented
low-code. In my eyes they are 20 years
ahead of the rest.
Thanks for reading.
p.s. I wonder what theynew name will be....Broadcom Plex doesn't have that good a ring to it.....
