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Homegrown firm sold; employees keep their jobs

By LOUIS HAU
Published March 24, 2005

OpenNetwork Technologies of Clearwater, a homegrown Tampa Bay area technology company, has been acquired by BMC Software Inc. of Houston for $18-million in cash.

The transaction was completed Tuesday. BMC, which posted revenue of $387-million in its third fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31, said it has hired all of OpenNetwork's about 40 employees and expects to retain the latter's offices in Clearwater.

BMC develops and markets software for a wide variety of business applications, including "identity management," which ensures that data is accessed only by those who authorized to view it.

BMC's software focuses on internal corporate information systems, such as those that process patient information at a hospital. OpenNetwork's identity-management technology is used for Web-based applications - ensuring, for example, that bank customers can securely access their account information online.

"There is no overlapping technology," said Cindy Sterling, director of BMC's identity management business unit. "This is a very complementary technology mix."

OpenNetwork was founded in 1995 by local entrepreneur Kurt Long, a prominent figure in local technology circles who founded OpenWeb Inc. in 1996 (sold the next year to U.S. Web Inc.), as well as a new start-up, EpicTide Software. He is a member of the executive committee of the Tampa Bay Technology Forum.

Long, who was OpenNetwork's chief executive until June when he left to start EpicTide, said Wednesday BMC's acquisition of the company creates an "an end-to-end technology footprint" in identity management and will provide far greater distribution muscle for OpenNetwork's products.

"It's all good for everybody involved," he said.

Louis Hau can be reached at 813 226-3404 or hau@sptimes.com

[Last modified March 24, 2005, 01:19:16]