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Quest Kills 9 of 20 NetPro Products. 1 Quest Product Exits

Looks like the Quest/NetPro merger has paid dividends in the form of products no longer being supported. This was expected as Quest and NetPro both supported complimentary products. This culling out of products that weren't the best in class was anticipated. So you're aware, in case you're using any of these products, here's the press release:

Quest Software, which acquired NetPro one month ago, has said that it will discontinue nearly half of NetPro's products as part of its future management platform road map. Just 11 of the 20 NetPro products that existed at NetPro prior to the acquisition by Quest will remain, and only 1 of the pre-acquisition Quest products will be discontinued. Quest has said that it will continue to support the canceled software products until the end of 2009.


The Quest acquisition of NetPro was a good match and an effective competition killer for Quest. The two companies had 11 Windows management products that were overlapping, and Quest is reportedly planning to keep only two NetPro products of this type, offering free upgrades to Quest software to NetPro users with maintenance contracts.

Quest has said it will retain its own product line, InTrust, and NetPro's ChangeAuditor. The two products will eventually be integrated into one sometime in 2010, with a free upgrade for users. Quest also said it would integrate NetPro's ongoing development of SharePoint tools into upcoming Quest software for that platform.

Bill Evans, Quest's Director of Product Marketing, indicated that Quest considered a variety of factors in its decision to slim its product set. The product consolidation was focused on Active Directory, identity management, compliance and SharePoint.

"We looked at different market demands, Active Directory configuration management, object recovery, compliance, auditing, and within those customer areas we looked at the different offerings the two companies had and we compared and contrasted the products based on presence in the market, technical superiority, ease of transition, integration with other products and maintenance costs. All those different things factored in," said Evans.

Quest also said it would continue NetPro's Experts Conference, a very popular event.

Source: http://www.fudzilla.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=10020&Itemid=1

From a separate press release is a better listing of what leaves and what remains:

  • Active Directory: Quest will move forward with several NetPro products, providing superior auditing and reporting, efficiency, and availability.
  • Identity Management: Quest will expand its leadership position by continuing to develop key NetPro products for identity management and compliance.
  • Compliance: Quest will enhance its robust portfolio with key NetPro products to provide better visibility, auditing and alerting, and change prevention.
  • Exchange Server: Quest will integrate the best features from NetPro's Exchange Server products and technologies into the existing Quest product line.
  • SharePoint: NetPro's early SharePoint development efforts will be integrated into the development of upcoming Quest products that support SharePoint.
Product support for discontinued products will continue through the end of 2009. In cases where Quest has made the decision to end the sales and development of a product, customers on current maintenance contracts will receive the go-forward product at no additional license cost.

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Comments

Hi Greg,
Thanks for posting the information about the acquisition. I wanted to let you know the information from Fudzilla is a portion of the article written by John Fontana in Network World and the second portion is indeed from the press release we issued.

Happy to discuss further if you would like.

Thanks,
Lora
Quest AR/PR Specialist

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Greg Shields' Bio:

Greg Shields, is an independent author, instructor, and IT consultant based in Denver, Colorado, and a co-founder of Concentrated Technology. With nearly 15 years of experience in information technology, Greg has developed extensive experience in systems administration, engineering, and architecture specializing in Microsoft systems management, remote application, and virtualization technologies. Greg is a Contributing Editor for Redmond Magazine, MCPmag.com, and Virtualization Review Magazine and is the author of five books, including Windows Server 2008:  What’s New / What’s Changed. Greg is also a highly sought-after instructor and speaker, speaking regularly at conferences like TechMentor Events, and producing computer-based training curriculum for CBT Nuggets.  Greg is a recipient of Microsoft "Most Valuable Professional" award with a specialization in Windows Terminal Services.