ScriptLogic VARs Laud Consolidation

Jason Judge, CEO of the Boca Raton, Fla.-based 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, just bought MaSaI Solutions for an undisclosed amount on Dec. 1. MaSaI&'s advanced Windows installer technology 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 technologies—and feedback from channel partners who say they prefer dealing with fewer vendors—is helping drive ScriptLogic&'s aspiration to expand its reach, said Nick Cavalancia, vice president of product marketing. “We are listening to our customers and partners who are telling us they want to consolidate vendors,” he 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. “Desktop Authority isn&'t so much a solution as it is a platform,” he said. “It pushes out configuration and patch management and antispyware 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, he said.