ROC Software expanded its datacenter choices for 3000 alternatives

Just at press time another MPE/iX software provider announced a Unix-Linux-Windows addition to its product lineup, preparing for the time when customers will need to replace management tools. At ROC, the addition is EasySpooler, a spool file manager that runs on Windows NT and 2000, several flavors of Unix including HP’s HP-UX, and Linux. But ROC did more than purchase a product. The company bought Seay Systems, makers of EasySpooler. The acquisition increased ROC’s customer base from around 3,000 companies to more than 4,000, and it merged technical staffing at the two Texas-based companies.

ROC’s VP of Business Development Paul Scripko said the deal happened because ROC, which released ROC Task Services last year for several platforms in addition to the HP 3000, knows its customers are interested in spooler options beyond ROC’s SpoolMate for MPE. “We’ve used our position as one of the largest MPE shops to provide scheduling for Unix, Linux and Windows,” Scripko said. “With the acquisition of EasySpooler, that’s our goal. We want to be thought of as a software company that has solutions for Unix, Linux, Windows and MPE.”

Seay Systems, based in Dallas, will retain its offices and employees in the deal, becoming a satellite office of ROC. The purchase also adds to Seay’s technical capabilities. “Combining our companies will result in a tripling of technical resources, helping us to accelerate development of new features,” said Bill Seay, founder and chief executive officer of Seay Systems. “Given the sophistication of our customer base, this is a requirement in order to maintain and expand our technological edge in today’s IT marketplace.”

ROC’s president and CEO Danny Compton said buying the company from Seay — who is expected to serve as chief architect of the ROC stable of output products — expands the range of choices for ROC customers. “As our customers’ needs change, we are expanding our product suite to encompass the products and platforms they require,” said Compton. “Output management is increasingly critical to them. Our build-versus-buy analysis led us to Seay Systems and its best-of-breed products. We’re delighted to be joining forces with such a complementary market leader, to provide the best systems management products on the market today.”

ROC’s press release on the deal said the company expects Seay Systems to bring profits to ROC right away. The new organizational structure is currently under evaluation, with results of the analysis expected within 60 days. The move to add products which ROC’s MPE customers will be able to convert onto after a migration is becoming more common in the 3000 market, as software providers position themselves for sales after their customers convert to other platforms. Some firms have built non-3000 solutions, and ROC created its ROCTask job scheduler last year for this purpose. The other choice is to buy open solutions like EasySpooler. But these purchased solutions usually won’t work on HP 3000s. MPE sites and those who are homesteading will be able to use SpoolMate for spoolfile management. ROC’s Scripko said buying Seay Systems doesn’t change the company’s commitment to MPE.

“If you’ve got MPE, we’re here for you,” Scripko said. “But when you move over to Unix if you’re Exxon Mobil, or a couple of our insurance clients looking at Linux, or some of our local law firms that are moving to Windows, we can provide for all of those. We’re here to support MPE as long as you need it; we know that like the back of our hand. But we are really pouring our resources into Unix, Linux and Windows.”