Magic Help Desk
Magic Solutions, which has its flagship product Magic Help Desk claimed in September 2003 a phenomenal success and growth rate. While Gartner Group judged the service desk market had shrunk by 34% in 2001 and 3% in 2000, it had grown 20% in 2001 and 26% in 2002. Magic’s products, which include Magic Service Desk, Magic Help Desk, HelpDeskIQ, and Magic Knowledge Services, would enable it to target the small-to-medium enterprise segment, while continuing to target its Remedy assets at medium-sized businesses and above. During this time the helpdesk space became less important to NAI, however, and it decided to focus its attention on the network and security management market, according to chairman and CEO George Samenuk.
Magic’s principle products include Magic Help Desk and Magic Service Desk, which feature functionality for problem management, change management, and asset management for SMEs, as well as HelpDeskIQ, which is aimed at companies with less than 800 employees. Currently only available in North and Latin America, the product was scheduled to be launched in Europe early in 2004.
Enterprise management software vendor BMC Software Inc plans to extend its position in the help desk software market for SMEs with a $47m cash deal to buy the assets of Magic Solutions from Network Associates Inc. The deal is designed to complement Houston, Texas-based BMC’s September 2002 acquisition of Peregrine Systems’ Remedy unit for $350m. Magic has 4,000 customers to add to Remedy’s 6,000-strong customer base, but also gives the company more of a focus on the small-to-medium enterprise space. BMC said that Magic was “highly profitable”, would be accretive to earnings next year, and would become part of the Remedy unit.
According to NAI, in the third quarter Magic Help Desk was profitable for the first time in a while, “but barely so”. BMC said it expects the Magic suite to be more successful under its command due to differences in company structure and the opportunities from complementary products and services it offers.
Santa Clara, California-based NAI bought Magic in March 1998 for $110m in cash claiming the purchase would combine the number-two and number-three vendors in the Magic Help Desk space, combining Magic’s assets with its McAfee Service Desk to create a new leader in the Windows NT environment, with the largest installed base of anyone in the market.
