Sweet smell of success at Network General
Newly formed firm pledges to restore Sniffer technology to top spot
Network General, the network monitoring vendor formed following the multimillion-dollar purchase of Sniffer Technologies, has revealed its aggressive plans.
McAfee (formerly Network Associates), the previous owner of Sniffer, sold the business for $275m to investment firms Silver Lake Partner and Texas Pacific Group to focus on its core security business.
Network General officially launched last week, and is looking to grab market share in voice over IP, wireless and application performance management.
Nancy Blair, vice-president of product management and marketing at Network General, said: "Our core business is being driven by changes in the market, such as the growth of Gigabit Ethernet and the replacement of year 2000 infrastructure, and we will be investing heavily in establishing a global presence.
"Network managers are our target market because they have the budget."
Blair added that the firm will soon launch its first application performance management product, an update of the Sniffer system known as Appera.
Bruce Fram, chief executive of Network General, said the vendor is keen to work with the channel. "Our strategy in Europe will be at least 95 per cent through the channel," he said.
Fram added that the firm will not change its channel structure in the near future.
Ash Hussein, sales and marketing director at VAR Axial Systems, welcomed the move. "Before the sale, Network Associates focused on too many other products. Network General can now put all of its efforts into one product set," he said.
"Customers need a solution that is number one in the market, so hopefully Network General can get Sniffer back to the top spot. It is putting product development at the forefront so we are very positive about the future."
Clive Longbottom, service director at Quocirca, said: "Sniffer has always been a good technology, but Network Associates didn't know what to do with it. With Network General, the product will be back under the direct control of a single firm.
"However, Sniffer has lost momentum in the market and Network General will have its work cut out in bringing it back to the fore."