Sterling,
Much has happened with ALTS in the last week. This shake up can only prove to help a desperate situation for them. It is clearer then ever that the company is up for sale/merger. The question now is;how much can they get and when will they get it? There is an outside possibility of a business partnering arrangement with one of their customers or VARS. Erickson, the new boss, is credibly established in this area.
As far as OTEXF, I have no factual basis for any such takeover. Just the same, I do believe that OTEXF could steal ALTSs clients for a song through a buyout/merger. Unfortunately, my theory had some basis in the fact that Mike Comenga, with his sell-side M & A experience/know-how would lube the process somehow. In fact I now believe he (Comenga) may have been in kahoots with Tanna on the "taking the company private conspiracy" now the latest talk on this thread.
It is clear that OTEXF is actively seeking an acquisition/merger. They did raise a very specific amount of $36.5 million (US) and had $20+ million already in the treasury. So they can't buy much. What they buy must be vertical. They are wanting to generate more sales internationally. They need to broaden their client base and product offerings. Some of the analysis I've read suggests they (OTEXF) are finding it difficult to compete with Lotus and some of the other big names -- especially here in North America. I know that Lotus (Notes/Domino) has its international HQs in Staines, Eng just outside Heathrow but still has not done particularly well in UK/Europe. Lotus's strategy has/was/is to focus on Central/South America and intranet-needy users here in US. In fact that is were, on balance, all of Lotus newer sales are now coming from. Although they have improved Desktop sales domestically (i.e., 123/WordPro/Suite.) Notes is the only game in town, especially with the financial backing of IBM. Microsoft Exchange is simply administratively inferior albeit cheaper (up front) per seat.
So I think the key to OTEXF and others is to stay out of the shadow of Lotus/MSFT and become even more specialized and to work where they are not. ALTS and OTEXF do not compete, per se' (at this time)with these big boys, however, that is going to change if Lotus has its way. Lotus's goal is to get situated enterprise-wide (via general intranet back-bone solution) and then have biz-partners create specific modules that tailor to the needs of the given customer. They have done this successfully with PSFT and many, many others. Downside to Lotus is that it is a very poorly managed company with some super products R&D (by biz-partners.) The company has no balls. It is run by a bunch of overly politically-correct Cambridykes. |
