CA extends shopping spree

Computer Associates (CA) is on a shopping spree: CA has plucked asset management software technology and employees from Digital Equipment just days after writing a check for $1.2 billion to acquire Cheyenne Software.

Digital's AssetWorks includes asset and desktop management features with Desktop Management Interface agents to keep tabs on software and hardware investments. AssetWorks supports Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, Unix, DOS, and Apple Computer Macintosh platforms.

Digital's AssetWorks employees will join CA. Terms of the AssetWorks deal were not disclosed.

The move follows the CA's April acquisition of nearly a dozen systems management products from Digital. But Digital's move raises doubts about the future of its three-year-old relationship with IBM that supplies the code for the base Polycenter NetView platform to Digital but competes with CA in systems management.

AssetWorks does not include the base Polycenter NetView network management platform, but it does incorporate some performance management and automated operations software.

The products will all be integrated into CA's Unicenter enterprise systems management platform, with AssetWorks fitting into the company's new emphasis on desktop management.