LANDesk Spin Off Bodes Well For Partners

Intel's decision falls in line with other decisions the company has made over the past year to divest itself of non-core, non-silicon businesses. The new stand-alone company, headed by majority investors from venture firms vSpring Capital and Vector Capital, will be based in the Salt Lake City area and will be headed up by Joe Lang, a former Symantec vice president, who will become its CEO, Intel said.

LANDesk will now be focused as a software vendor in the desktop and network management space as opposed to a unit of a chip company that makes software, solution providers said.

"One of the biggest problems with the product in the past was it was controlled by Intel, which is a hardware company," said Joe Meier, CEO of Network America, a LANDesk solution provider in Clearwater, Fla.

"The reason [Intel acquired [LANDesk . . . was to help companies who continually upgrade their processors, and help manage desktops," Meier said. "But they never had that software focus."

Meier was so bullish on the announcement of the LANDesk spin-off that he subsequently wrote a letter to his customers touting the deal.

"From our viewpoint, Network America is very excited about this change. We believe this is a significant positive for the enhancement of LANDesk," Meier wrote. "The new company is backed by strong investors who have experience in running successful software companies and have made a commitment to re-invest earnings back into the business to develop an even stronger product.

"We see this as starting with the best desktop management solution in the universe and building it even better," Meier told his clients.

For its part, Intel's move was another step toward focusing more on its core, silicon strategy. Earlier this year, in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, the company said it was canceling at least nine different research and development projects,about one-third of its overall R and D budget,to focus on its core competencies. In July, Intel CFO Andy Bryant said the company would continue to reduce what it spends by selling off some non-core businesses. At the time, Bryant was not specific.

"This is only going to give us opportunities to develop product," Meier said. "LANDesk has been a very profitable venture for Intel. [Now you're going to see more of the profit put into further development."