Moving into a new realm, Microsoft Corp. is buying a company that provides Web-based conferencing services, hoping to spark growth in the software giant’s maturing business software unit.
Microsoft and PlaceWare of Mountain View, California, declined to disclose terms of the deal announced on Tuesday. The acquisition is expected to close in the first quarter.
Privately held PlaceWare found increased interest among corporate clients after the September 11 attacks and a weak business environment left many companies seeking alternatives for business travel.
PlaceWare provides technology and services that allows employees around the world to participate in meetings and trade information in real time. Although the company would not disclose sales figures, it said it has more than 3 000 customers.
Microsoft plans to retain most of PlaceWare’s 300 employees, although details of how many will be relocated to the Redmond, Washington, corporate headquarters have not been determined, the companies said.
Microsoft hopes to broaden adoption of Web-based conferencing and roll out more services that allow employees to work together in real time, regardless of their location, said Ken Myer, director of global business management for the information worker group at Microsoft.
Neither Microsoft nor PlaceWare offered specifics on what types of applications it will roll out. But both companies have ”a very common vision, for trying to help improve worker productivity,” said Dustin Grosse, PlaceWare’s vice president of worldwide marketing and strategy.
PlaceWare will be part of a new Microsoft unit called the Real Time Collaboration Group, which will focus on developing services that help employees work with one another, regardless of location. It will be in Microsoft’s information worker business division, which includes its Office business software.
The market for services that allow such ”real-time” interaction among employees has a lot of potential, said Rob Helm, director of research at Kirkland-based Directions on Microsoft, an independent research firm. In addition, Microsoft’s highly profitable information worker business, which includes its Office suite of business software, is maturing and seeking ways to grow, Helm said. The concept of ”real-time” services — allowing people to share files, trade data or otherwise work together over the Internet simultaneously — is emerging as an interesting business area, he said.
”Selling Word and Excel (applications) just doesn’t do it anymore,” Helm said. ”Long term it’s a really important market. Look at the phone market and imagine Microsoft getting even one percent of it.” – Sapa-AP