With last week’s announcement of a private equity buyout of major computer hardware and software distributor, CDW, speculation is escalating about where this new influx of investors will strike next within the information technology (IT) industry.

The CDW deal comes two weeks after computer and database services provider Acxiom Corp. agreed to be bought by Silver Lake Partners and ValueAct Capital Partners LP for about $2.24 billion. Now, some see Dell as a likely buyout candidate, others are speculating about whether computer chip software design vendor Cadence will ‘go private’.

I think a series of private equity deals will be aimed at a wide array of publicly-traded, incumbent software vendors (ISVs) in the coming months. These ISVs will boast a significant installed base of customers, but will also be facing significant challenges keeping pace with the Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) movement. I also believe … Read More »