I received a letter from Axent, about a month ago, apologizing for the state of their support. I have never had an issue with Axent's support however I think this is the actual reason for the acquisition. I think they want access to the support team for Compaq/DEC Altavista: 1. Axent is terming this an alliance, not a merger or acquisition. This indicates that they expect an ongoing relationship from this deal. 2. The technologies are largely duplicative. Nearly completely duplicative in fact and while they will rename the Axent products by adding EC they are not expanding their product line or adding much functionality to their existing products. 3. Axent doesn't think they have good support for the Raptor firewall. I don't agree, but the fact that they believe it has been clearly communicated to their clients. 4. Compaq has made it abundantly clear that they have little interest in pursuing any of DEC's prodcut lines. No NT support for the Alpha. Altavista search sold to CMGI. Does DEC make anything else? 5. DEC or what was DEC had great support. Hell that's what Compaq bought - a support team. They've committed this support team for the next year. Just my thoughts. As a straight product acquisition I don't think this would make any sense. -----Original Message----- From: Houser David DW [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Thursday, September 30, 1999 10:34 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE. AltaVista Firewall >Date: Wed, 29 Sep 1999 17:43:22 -0400 (EDT) >From: spiff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> >Subject: Re: test >> Try http://altavista.software.digital.com for updates and knowledgebase, but >> the product was sold to AXERT and all Firewall 98 users will have to upgrade >> to a Raptor firewall. >ha. there's customer support for ya. Maybe I'm misreading something here, but the press release at the site mentioned tells me that at least one more version of Altavista will be released before the switch to Raptor is required. That's a heluva site better than the state some mergers leave products with... Q7. How will the acquisition impact AltaVista customers? A7. The key elements moving forward for AltaVista customers include the following: * A migration plan will be developed jointly by AXENT and Compaq and details will be available within the next 60 days. * There will be one more release of the AltaVista Security Products per prior commitment to installed customer base to be delivered before the end of 1999. * The AltaVista products will be formally retired per the migration plan. * Compaq Services will continue to support AltaVista products for one (1) year beyond the retirement notice. * AXENT's Raptor products will be available as the replacement products for the AltaVista Security products over the longer term. - [To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.] - [To unsubscribe, send mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe firewalls" in the body of the message.]
