WebGain Wipeout
"It's over," said the employee, who requested anonymity. He called the WebGain debacle "How to spend $200 million in 24 months," referring to the amount of funding WebGain received from investors BEA Systems and Warburg Pincus at its inception in March 2000.
At that time, WebGain bought from Symantec the VisualCafe development tool, which has since become a popular Java integrated development environment (IDE).
WEBGAIN: FROM CRADLE TO GRAVE
>> March 2000: Launches as a joint investment between
Warburg Pincus and BEA Systems.
>>
> April 2000: Acquires TopLink database-mapping tools.
>> July 2000: Ships its first product; moves into new corporate headquarters to accommodate growth
>> August 2000: Ships the first new enterprise version of
VisualCafe since purchasing it from Symantec
>> ebruary 2001: Files for an IPO and launches its first partner program for technology partners
>> March 2001: Receives investment from Intel Capital.
>> July 2001: Becomes subject of a patent-infringement lawsuit filed by Borland
>> September 2001: Withdraws its IPO filing
>> July 2002: Closes its doors, according to reports
Recent published reports indicate that WebGain closed its headquarters and released all employees. According to the former employee, however, WebGain still has a skeleton crew in its San Jose, Calif., office and hasn't issued a formal statement on the shutdown.
John Meyer, senior industry analyst at Giga Information Group, said he was "flabbergasted" WebGain had yet to formalize its closure.
The former employee said the WebGain staff continues to sell both the VisualCafe and WebGain Studio products, even though they are "not being supported and all engineering [staff has been fired."
The phone number of WebGain's corporate headquarters is no longer in service. CRN was, however, able to reach a WebGain general corporate mailbox through a toll-free number on the company's Web site, but a call to that mailbox had not been returned at press time. The company's Web site was still operating at press time.
Mike DeBellis, principal and e-business CTO of Deloitte Consulting, said VisualCafe used to be "our preferred" IDE for BEA projects. He said he was unaware of the status of the product, adding, "It will be a shame to see it flounder."
Meyer said a likely reason for WebGain's silence is that investor Warburg Pincus doesn't want to admit its financial loss. BEA, on the other hand, wrote off its WebGain investment in its last financial statement, according to BEA reports.
A source familiar with the situation said BEA is trying to distance itself from WebGain and sidle closer to Borland, one of its other tools partners. The source, who also requested anonymity, said Borland executives are frustrated that BEA won't make an official statement on WebGain. A BEA spokeswoman would not comment on WebGain but said BEA is committed to its tools strategy through its partner relationships with Borland and Rational.
Borland's JBuilder will likely replace VisualCafe as the leading IDE for BEA's WebLogic platform, Meyer said. Pramati's Java tools and OptimalJ from Compuware also could fit the bill, he added.
Other tools vendors are competing for VisualCafe users. Borland, Oracle and Sun are offering discounted migrations from VisualCafe to their Java tools, company sources said. TogetherSoft and IBM also said they plan to court WebGain developers.