How potent is NetScout's buyout of Network General?

On the heels of this week's announcment of Cisco buying Cognio, comes the news of NetScout acquiring Network General.  This time the terms were announced - $205 million.  That's $70 million less than when McAfee sold off the "Sniffer Unit" to Silver lake back in '04 and of course, far less value then when Network General merged with Network Associates in '97.  Is there a trend here?

Tim O'Neil over at LoveMyTool, gives us insight on the deal and reminds us that NetScout recently sold $120 million in stock, a sure sign that a deal was cooking.  NetScout's latest quarter came in at around $30 million.

As former CTO over at WildPackets, I kept a close watch on various competitors.  With NetG continuing to recover from the ill-fated NAI merger and subsequent break off as an independent again, two old industry rivals are about to become friends. I think the key to a buyout of this magnitude will be how quickly the two companies can come up with a cohesive, truly integrated product family.

Let's us learn from not only the NAI debacle. Hopefully the painful integration issues and lessons learned when Network General bought NetVigil will also be of value.

Comments

[Oldcommguy]

Scott - All I have to say is , I agree.
I think NetScouts CEO Anil Singhal, knows that the purchase is only the beginning and success will come as they truly merge the technologies and unify the interfaces into some common plane.
Anil has a Great Team, a proven Team and now action is all that is required.
I really agree that the industry must learn from past and painful lessons or failure will follow these types of mergers.
I hope you and I can report Great things form NetScout very soon. Great Job....Oldcommguy

[Tony Fortunato, The Technology Firm]

I would be just as interested to see how they address customer service, support and licensing issues.

I still have whip-lash from shaking my head when Network Associates kept changing their licensing and pricing structures.

I know of dozens of my customers who bailed on them because they felt they were being gouged.