TogetherSoft Buys Remaining WebGain Products

WebGain

An executive from independent tools vendor TogetherSoft said Monday that TogetherSoft plans to buy WebGain Studio, which includes the VisualCafe integrated development environment (IDE) as well as its StructureBuilder, Business Designer and Quality Analyzer tools.

TogetherSoft, based here, will take over full support for WebGain Studio customers, said Keith Boswell, vice president of marketing and business development at TogetherSoft.

TogetherSoft also is providing a conversion program for developers using WebGain to TogetherSoft's Java suite ControlCenter, since WebGain Studio is just a "subset" of the functionality of ControlCenter, Boswell said. He added, however, that customers have the option to continue to use WebGain Studio, which supports BEA System's WebLogic platform.

Boswell said TogetherSoft is mulling what to do with new code that already has been developed for the next version of WebGain Studio. He said that while he expects some current WebGain Studio users to ramp up to ControlCenter, he does not foresee plans to discontinue WebGain Studio while there is still customer demand for the product. "It's really the customer's choice," Boswell said.

Two weeks ago, WebGain confirmed that it was operating with a skeleton crew and existed solely to sell off its assets, as previously reported in CRN.

In a statement, WebGain cited "rapidly changing market conditions, the absence of a recovery in IT spending" and increased competition in the tools market as reasons for the company's plan to shut down.

WebGain launched in March 2000 as a joint investment between Warburg Pincus and BEA. The company's first move was to buy from Symantec the VisualCafe development tool, which since has become a popular Java IDE.