Mergers and acquisitions enjoyed a robust 2005 in the enterprise market. In early 2006, Computer Associates
Wily certainly has no problems with growth. In 2004, revenues grew 48%; in 2005, it appears that revenues surged by 75% to about $60 million.
Wily is a leader in the enterprise application management (EAM) industry. As more companies put mission-critical transactions on the Web, Wily helps manage and monitor these crucial Web applications. This requires strong monitoring and analysis of huge amounts of transactions. A slowdown in a company's servers may drive away customers unhappy with the sluggish performance; Wily alerts companies to these problems instantly, allowing the company to start fixing its woes right away. Without Wily's teachnology, companies may not know about a brewing problem until customers start complaining -- and by then, it's already too late.
Wily already has strong relationships with such infrastructure products as BEA's
Interestingly enough, Wily was on the path to an IPO. However, the IPO market has been soft, and standout companies are instead selling out.
The weak IPO market is doubtlessly good news for companies desperately seeking growth, like Computer Associates. The company has been weaning itself from its reliance on mainframes; as computing power gets less expensive, and more efficient Web technologies emerge, there's less of a market for such massive computers.
But a company as small as Wily won't "move the needle" much for a large firm like Computer Associates. So even though Computer Associates' acquisitions have been well-thought-out, and its turnaround from an accounting scandal in 2004 has been effectively dealt with, the company will still likely be a plodder going forward, like the rest of its peers.
We're down to the wire with our annual Foolanthropy drive. From now through Jan. 6, please open your hearts and wallets to help our five Foolish charities.
Fool contributor Tom Taulli does not own shares mentioned in this article.