NetManage Boosts Partner Sales Channel by 30 Percent

Published: September 17, 2007

by Timothy Prickett Morgan

Host access and legacy application transformation software maker NetManage is a lot smaller than its rival, Attachmate, but it is hoping that there is some strength in numbers.

Between January and June of this year, NetManage has added 14 new channel partners to help it peddle its products to end user customers, an increase of 30 percent and getting it close to 50 partners worldwide. As we all know, the channel is how most things in the midrange get sold, whether it is the IBM midrange, the Hewlett-Packard midrange, or the Sun Microsystems midrange.

"Mid-market customers rely on trusted resellers to help them navigate important technology hurdles such as systems integration. NetManage’s ability to attract several new channel partners during the first half of the year indicates the reputation and high quality of our suite of products," bragged Zvi Alon, chairman, president, and chief executive officer at NetManage. "Partnering with leading IT solution providers gives NetManage access to additional geographies and markets. NetManage will continue to work with excellent channel partners to answer the integration needs of mid-market and enterprise end-users."

New NetManage partners singled out by name include CLS Enterprises, of Oceanside, California; Database Republic, of Oregon House, California; Nastel Technologies, of Melville, New York; and TechSys Software Services, of Coppell, Texas.

NetManage has over 10,000 customers and over 30 million end users worldwide making use of its RUMBA host access or OnWeb and Librados legacy transformation products. NetManage is one of the few publicly traded companies in the i5/OS and OS/400 market, and it is headquartered in Cupertino, California, in the heart of Silicon Valley. In the wake of the triple merger between Attachmate, WRQ, and NetIQ, which was funded by private equity cash, NetManage has turned down at least two offers to be taken private. In the first quarter, NetManage saw sales decline by 9 percent to $7.7 million, and it booked a loss of $3.6 million. The company exited the quarter with $28.9 million in cash, and as we go to press on Friday, the company has a market capitalization of $41.5 million. In early 2003, the company's value, as assessed by the Nasdaq market, was nearly three times that. But back then, NetManage was generating more revenue, was profitable, and Attachmate was not looming so large.

Clearly, expanding its sales channel is a key to NetManage's return to profitability.

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