back to article Dell finally nabs Quest for $2.4bn

After a minor bidding war with Insight Venture Partners, Michael Dell has prevailed with a bag of cash stuffed with $2.4bn (£1.5bn) to take over Quest Software - a peddler of a hodge-podge of systems, database, performance and access management tools as well as data archiving software. Dell has not historically broken out its …

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  1. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    You would think Oracle would be interested? after all, the client tools that they supply with their database are pretty average. It's fine for DBAs to be using SQL Plus, you probably wouldn't employ anyone who needed a GUI to manage Oracle.

    You don't see people using third party tools with SQL Server which it a credit to the quality of the Microsoft client tools.

    1. lansalot

      Hmm...

      I don't see any particularly huge difference in using Oracle's Enterprise Manager or MS' SQL Management Studio. Both get the job done, in their own GUI-way.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "You don't see people using third party tools with SQL Server which it a credit to the quality of the Microsoft client tools."

      Erm, yes you do. We use FoglIght for real-time, cetralised monitoring of our 300+ SQL Server instances. Trying to do that just using Management Studio ain't gonna cut it.

  2. unredeemed

    Lots of folks I work with on the West coast in the US use Quest software for SQL and Vmware. From performance monitoring (Toad), the all too common SQL backup tools (Litespeed), and vmware backup tools(vRanger).

    This is a HUGE win for Dell. However, Dell's execution to merge products and do it in a timely matter will be the biggest obstacle for them to get over.

    1. O RLY

      I think Dell do well when they merge mature businesses, such as EqualLogic. Where they have problems is when they buy IP and try to turn into products, such as Ocarina or Exanet.

      Hopefully for Dell, the Quest integration follows the mature business history.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Yes, that is the issue...

        Dell doesn't do R&D or product development. Quest is much more R&D and development intensive than an iSCSI array or anything else Dell does on the hardware side. Their whole business model is wringing cost savings out of supply chains and manufacturing operations to make knock offs at a lower cost. If they try to meld it into Dell corporate where the bean counters will wreck the R&D of Quest, I don't like its chances.

    2. Levente Szileszky
      Go

      I agree on the execution part...

      ...but it could also nicely slide into KACE's convoluted, tad clunky K1000 (patch & system management w/ integrated helpdesk) box UI too - it still sorely lacks some basic features, some even despite *YEARS* of user feedback: http://kace.uservoice.com/forums/82699-k1000

      If they decide to merge them - which I, along with many users, would cheer for - then execution will get even more difficult.

      BTW I also liked the direction Quest's PowerGUI was heading into - too bad they laid off the head of the group last year: http://poshoholic.com/2011/07/28/one-for-the-road/

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