Borland plots IDE sale

Borland has announced it is selling off its integrated development environment (IDE) product set, and plans to buy software testing specialist Segue Software.

Borland said that Segue offers a range of quality optimisation and performance management products that will extend its own capabilities in application lifecycle management (ALM).

Meanwhile, the IDE divestment will see the company selling off its JBuilder and Borland Developer Studio lines, as it continues to shift its focus from being a tools vendor to being an ALM specialist.

“Selling into the IDE community is very different to the enterprise level in terms of the service and support needed,” said Chris Barbin, a senior vice-president at Borland. “A company our size could be mildly successful in both areas, but we want to be wildly successful in one – the pre-deployment level, from the requirements through to the testing stage.”

The increasing popularity of Eclipse-based open-source development tools may have made it difficult for Borland to sustain its business in its previous form.

Barbin said that Borland had already been approached by three firms regarding the IDE sale. He added that Borland expects a few more within the next six weeks, mainly from venture buyout groups and the more strategic independent software vendors. “It’s likely to be a combination of the two that would be interested [in a purchase],” he said.