Proxima Technology was founded in the UK in 1996 by Steve Jones and Bernd Hamman, who had remained CEO and CTO respectively. They chose Denver, Colorado as its headquarters but most of the R&D happened in Sydney, Australia.
Prior to founding Proxima, both Jones and Hamman ironically worked for the systems management start-up Patrol Software which was acquired by BMC in 1994. Today BMC is one of Compuware’s closest competitors in systems and service management, though the likes of CA, HP Software, IBM, and Managed Objects also compete in the space.
Proxima’s flagship product, Centauri, is said to help manage service level agreements, by automating reporting and providing a dashboard to monitor the key performance indicators upon which the SLA is based.
Centauri takes feeds from systems and applications management tools like BMC Patrol and CA Unicenter, and from the applications themselves, presenting the data to help both outsourcers and their clients prioritize IT resources and services. The product ships with around 40 adapters into various third-party tools or generic standards like JMS, and there is an SDK available for other sources or home-grown applications.
Steve Tack, director of product management at Compuware, told us that unlike Compuware’s Vantage systems and application performance management and monitoring product suite, Proxima’s Centauri is designed to not only present a business view of service delivery but also a customer-facing service level management view.
As well as selling to large customers, Proxima targeted outsourcers and other services providers, with adherents including Sun Microsystems, Capgemini, CSC, EDS and Fujitsu Services. Tack said that Compuware is determined to maintain and indeed grow the revenue stream from this channel.
Tack added that Compuware is hoping to keep most of Proxima’s 75-odd staff, including its CEO and CTO. The acquisition is not expected to materially affect Compuware’s earnings.
Unusually for a software firm, Proxima Technology did not take on venture capital funding. It has an impressive customer roster, with names including Deutsche Bank, Allianz, Mutual of Omaha, and in the Asia Pacific region, HSBC, Macquarie Bank, and CBA. Government users include the CIA, RZF (the German Federal Revenue Service) and the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Tack said it is too early to talk about detailed product integration plans, but clearly some integration with Compuware’s Vantage performance management suite makes sense. Tack also said that there is some synergy between Proxima’s Centauri and Compuware’s IT governance and project portfolio management tools. Usefully, Centauri is able to tie into Six Sigma and ITIL quality initiatives.
Centauri is already the service management solution of choice for the world’s leading service providers, said Proxima’s CEO Steve Jones in a statement. These organizations rely on Centauri to contain costs, reduce risk and increase revenue throughout the contract life cycle. Together, Compuware Vantage and Centauri will offer our combined customer base the most comprehensive perspective on business service available.
Star-gazers will no doubt have noticed that the Proxima and Centauri names are taken from Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf star of the Alpha Centauri triple star system and the closest to our own sun.
