BMC To Acquire Network Associates' Magic Help Desk Division

The acquisition, which was expected to close by Feb. 1, should strengthen BMC's service management offerings beyond its traditional enterprise customer base. Magic Solutions, with its Magic Service Desk and Magic Help Desk products, provides help desk software and related solutions targeted at small- and medium-sized businesses.

At BMC headquarters in Houston, officials said they planned to incorporate Magic Solutions into the company's existing Remedy business unit, and noted that the acquisition will provide the publicly traded BMC with end-to-end service management solutions that reach a variety of customers.

"Customers of all sizes need the flexibility to adapt their IT solutions on the fly and the scalability to expand their solution as their business grows," said Jim Grant, vice president and general manager of the Remedy unit. "The small- to medium-sized business market is a huge one for us, and this acquisition should help us reach that market like we've never reached it before."

For BMC channel partners, access to this new market opens a brand new world of potential customers. While Grant said he didn't expect the move to affect the company's current channel strategy or compensation structure, he admitted that reorganizing the Remedy business unit may result in minor changes to channel efforts down the road.

Gartner Research Director Kris Brittain said the Magic acquisition was the first move in what could become a trend of consolidation in the service management marketplace overall.

"As the economy offers positive signals for growth, vendors of consolidated IT service management technologies will look for acquisition opportunities to expand their presence in the marketplace," she said. "Enterprises should anticipate more consolidations as vendors improve their market penetration from small- to enterprise-level [customers] and build on their industry expertise."

The Magic Solutions division of publicly traded Network Associates is located in Plano, Texas. Grant said he did not expect to relocate the division due to the acquisition.