NComputing 'in safe waters' after asset sale
ZeroDesktop to take on core assets of the troubled thin-client vendor for an undisclosed amount
Six weeks after CRN revealed it was in talks to be acquired, thin-client vendor NComputing has announced it has sold some of its core assets to ZeroDesktop for an undisclosed sum.
Last month, CRN heard whispers that Santa Clara-based NComputing – the world's third-largest thin-client vendor, according to IDC – was in advanced talks to be snapped up by an unknown third party.
In a post on IT community Spiceworks this morning, NComputing confirmed some of its assets have been sold to ZeroDesktop, another Californian outfit which specialises in delivering cloud computing solutions and providing mobile apps for telecoms, ISVs, OEMs and SMBs.
Its chief executive, Young Song, was also the founder of NComputing and returned as NComputing's chief executive in October. He will now become the head of both companies.
Talking to CRN, Jochen Polster, vice president for EMEA sales at NComputing, said the firm has been going through a "period of transition" in the past few months, confirming there had been a number of job losses in the US. The acquisition means the company is now in "safe waters", however, Polster claimed, adding that there will be no further job cuts.
Polster said although there had been a number of talks with different companies, ZeroDesktop was chosen because it is the right fit for NComputing, due to the CEO link and the fact it is already in desktop virtualisation as a cloud service.
Polster said NComputing's strategy will now be to focus on providing the complete solution around desktop virtualisation, whereas before it had "lost track" by focusing too much on the software component of its business.
He indicated that NComputing will keep its name and the Californian headquarters in Santa Clara will move to another location in the Bay area.
The post on Spiceworks stressed that ZeroDesktop has "no plans to make any changes to the existing NComputing partner programme as a result of the acquisition".
"Existing NComputing customers and partners will see ZeroDesktop continue to support the NComputing brand, for the assets it has acquired," the post added.
Clive Longbottom, analyst at Quocirca, said the move was suggestive of a "fire sale" and suspected NComputing's assets had been picked up for "dollars and cents".
"I would think that ZeroDesktop has picked up a bargain here," Longbottom said. "It could be a way for them [ZeroDesktop] to push their own valuation up so a Samsung could come along and pick them up."