The Attachmate Group

This article is about the entity owned by private equity firms and run by Jeff Hawn from 2005 to 2014. For the original Attachmate founded and run by Frank Pritt that existed from 1982 to 2005, see Attachmate.

The Attachmate Group, Inc. was a privately held software holding company based in Houston, Texas in the United States.^[1] The major companies held by the group were Attachmate, NetIQ, Novell, and SUSE.^[1]

The Attachmate Group, Inc.

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer software
Defunct	November 20, 2014 (2014-11-20)^[1]
Fate	Merged with Micro Focus International
Headquarters	Houston, Texas , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Jeff Hawn (Chairman and CEO) Charles Sansbury (COO and CFO)
Revenue	US$1.2 billion (2010)^[2]
Number of employees	4,000^[2]
Parent	Micro Focus
Subsidiaries	Attachmate NetIQ Novell
Website	www.attachmategroup.com

The Novell building in Provo, Utah, in 2013 during the Attachmate Group era

SuSE employees at a Beijing conference, in 2014 during the Attachmate Group era

Attachmate was owned by Wizard Parent LLC—an investment group consisting of Elliott Management Corporation, Francisco Partners, Golden Gate Capital, and Thoma Cressey Bravo.^{[3][failed verification]}

History

WRQ and Formation

In 1981, Doug Walker, Mike Richer and Marty Quinn founded Walker, Richer & Quinn (WRQ) to integrate microcomputers with existing IT environments. The company set its sights on the Hewlett-Packard market, launching the first commercially viable terminal emulator for the HP 3000. (Two subsidiaries, Express Metrix and NetMotion Wireless, had been spun off by WRQ in 2000 and 2001, respectively, and continued to operate successfully for years to come.)

After buying both WRQ, Inc. and Attachmate Corporation, who had been long-time competitors in the host emulation business, the private equity firms announced that the companies would be merged.^[4] On June 1, 2005, the deal closed, and it was revealed that the two companies, merged into one, would be named AttachmateWRQ.

In June 2005, shortly after the merger was made official, AttachmateWRQ announced that its corporate headquarters would be located in WRQ's Seattle, Washington location.

NetIQ

NetIQ, founded in 1995 by Ching-Fa Hwang, Her-daw Che, Hon Wong, Ken Prayoon Cheng and Thomas R. Kemp, was a company that provided systems management and security management software. Their products included AppManager and Security Manager.

On April 27, 2006, AttachmateWRQ announced an agreement to acquire NetIQ^[5] On July 5, 2006, both companies released a press release announcing the closing of the deal. The new company would do business under the name Attachmate Corporation.

OnDemand

In 2006 AttachmateWRQ acquired OnDemand Software,^[6] developer of WinINSTALL, a product similar to AttachmateWRQ's existing NetWizard product.

Two years later Scalable Software acquired the WinINSTALL business unit (substantially all assets of the former OnDemand) from Attachmate.^[7]

Wollongong

Later, the company also acquired The Wollongong Group (makers of Pathway TCP and Emissary).

Novell

In 2011 Attachmate acquired Novell, Inc^[8] and let go hundreds of Novell employees.^[9] At this point the overseeing entity become known as The Attachmate Group.

Novell subsequently operated as two separate business units under the Novell and SUSE brand names and joined Attachmate and NetIQ as holdings of The Attachmate Group. Certain intellectual property assets are planned to be sold to CPTN Holdings, a consortium of companies led by Microsoft.^[10]

Acquisition by Micro Focus

On 15 September 2014, the British firm Micro Focus International announced that it would acquire the Attachmate Group for US$1.2 billion in shares,^[11][12][13] and Attachmate Group announced entering into a definitive agreement to merge with Micro Focus, with transaction to be closed in 2014-11-03.^[14][15] Wizard Parent LLC was estimated to hold a 40% stake in Micro Focus following the acquisition.^[11]

In 2014-11-05, Micro Focus International announced the completion of its merger with the Attachmate Group.^[16]

In 2015-04-05, Micro Focus announced the completion of integrating Attachmate Group of companies that had been merged in 2014-11-20. During the integration period, the affected companies had been merged into a single organization. In the announced reorganization, NetIQ and Novell products would be part of Micro Focus portfolio.^[17] SUSE was sold to EQT Partners in 2019.^[18]

References

1. "Micro Focus International completes merger with the Attachmate Group" (Press release). Newbury, UK: Micro Focus. 20 November 2014. Retrieved 7 December 2014.
2. Parks, Louis B. (6 June 2011). "No. 9 private company: The Attachmate Group". Houston Chronicle. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
3. "Principal Investors". The Attachmate Group. Retrieved 13 March 2012.
4. "Investors begin merger of Attachmate and WRQ". May 30, 2005. Attachmate, founded by Pritt in 1982, was among the region's largest software developers in the late '90s and early '00s, with revenue of ...
5. NetIQ Acquisition Press Release, Attachmate, April 27, 2006
6. , Attachmate, March 7, 2006, archived from the original on June 16, 2006
7. Scalable Software WinINSTALL Press Release (PDF)^{[permanent dead link]}
8. "The Attachmate Group Completes Acquisition of Novell". Attachmate. April 27, 2011.
9. "Hundreds laid off at Novell in Provo". Daily Herald. Retrieved September 25, 2013.
10. Novell agrees to be bought in $2.2b deal, Boston Updates, November 22, 2010, retrieved 2010-11-22
11. "Micro Focus to Buy Attachmate in $1.2 Billion Share Deal". Bloomberg. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
12. "Micro Focus to Buy Attachmate in $1.2 Billion Deal". The Wall Street Journal. 15 September 2014. Retrieved 15 September 2014.
13. Proposed Merger Between Micro Focus and the Attachmate Group to Create a Leading Global Infrastructure Software Company
14. The Attachmate Group announces intention to merge with Micro Focus
16. Micro Focus International Completes Merger with the Attachmate Group
17. Attachmate is now part of Micro Focus
18. Ian Murphy (2019-03-18). "EQT completes aquisition [sic} of SUSE from Micro Focus". www.enterprisetimes.co.uk. Retrieved 2020-05-02.

Further reading

• "Attachmate finalizes Novell takeover". CNET. 28 April 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
• "Attachmate to give lease of life to Novell brand". The Australian. 22 November 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2012.
• "Attachmate reveals Novell, SUSE, & Linux Plans". ZDNet. 29 April 2011. Retrieved 14 March 2012.

External links