WRQ (206.217.7100), the 650-person firm which has changed its name legally from Walker Richer & Quinn, hopes that its close ties with managers of HP 3000s will provide a ready market for Express Systems' license metering and management software. Express Meter will begin shipping immediately as a WRQ product, the beginning of a new line of WRQ Express software aimed at managing enterprise resources in HP and other environments.
Express Meter works on Windows platforms, and it can use an HP 3000 as the central database to track licenses and usage of software that's residing on PCs. WRQ's Kevin Klustner, vice president of marketing, said his company discovered in a survey that 80 percent of its customers had software metering or licensing responsibilities.
"Nobody's really hit on a strong, corporate-IS oriented solution for these folks, and that's where we feel like we've got the edge," Klustner said. "We can leverage our expertise in networking with this solution."
WRQ is also counting on the fact that an HP 3000 manager's responsibilities now include desktops connected to the system. "The HP 3000 IS manager, or someone in his or her organization, isn't just managing the 3000 anymore -- they're managing all the PCs that are connected together, into the 3000 as well as other environments."
Klustner said software management was easier when only terminals were connected to the 3000, but there are now "IS managers struggling to manage the 3000 along with all the PCs and networks connecting into those systems."
When an HP 3000 manager's responsibilities include an HP 9000, that server can use the Express line to act as a distribution agent for the PC software. Express Meter helps HP 3000 managers discover what is actually being used in an enterprise, and how often a package is being used at a particular desktop. When a PC boots up each day, Express Meter identifies it and the software it's trying to run. The package is priced from $25 to $30 per desktop and sold in enterprise quantities.
Analysis of Express information can save a company thousands of dollars, according to WRQ; one firm with thousands of desktops saw its expense for upgrades and installations drop from $4 million yearly to less than $900,000. WRQ estimates that the cost of PC ownership is $6,000 per PC per year, with only 14 percent of that figure devoted to software and hardware.
"We've helped the 3000 world network their PCs, and that's opened up a need for the IS manager to control their desktop software assets," Klustner said. The Express technology, much like WRQ's own offerings, is network independent, running on Netware IPX, TCP/IP and other protocols.
Buying the 40-person Express Systems "is our first acquisition," Klustner said, "and absorbing them will be a good project for us." WRQ has developed most of its technology in-house, on some occasions purchasing technology on an OEM basis. Express, founded by former Microsoft engineers in 1986, re-engineered itself into a management expert when Microsoft began to include the Windows functionality which Express had offered in its earlier incarnation as hDC Corp., a maker of Windows 3.0 add-ons.
Klustner said that Express Systems "has lots of R&D on the inventory side of software management," meaning that advanced features are in the works to automatically control where software is installed, rather than just monitoring its use. WRQ bought the company as a way to add a management component to the other WRQ parts of serving the enterprise: security, integration, connectivity and support.
"We initially thought we'd OEM some source code, bring it in house and work on it," Klustner said. "We came across Express, and our strategies were pretty well in sync. They've spent four years thinking about [software management]. The acquisition allows us to jump start our entrance into the market with a company whose product reputation is as stellar as Reflection's is on our side of the world. For them to compete against Symantec and the bigger players, they needed some help."
WRQ is making its award-winning technical support department available to Express customers immediately, a serious increase in the level of staffing for Express Meter support. Express Systems Brian Conte joins WRQ as development manager for the new WRQ management software line. WRQ is also launching the Software Management Council, an information clearinghouse on the issues in the management marketplace. A Web site at www.swmc.org provides white papers and other information on metering, inventory and software distribution.