Micro Focus "Migration" Challenge

I am a keen reader of TechMarketView and have been a fan of the Holway view of the world for many years.

Philip Carnelley made an interesting comment yesterday on the integration challenge ahead for Micro Focus having made recent acquisitions that increase turnover by 55%, just over Holway's rule of thumb which holds that companies acquiring businesses over 50% of their size tend to be high risk acquisitions.

The thought that occurred to me was that the "migration" issue that Philip referred to is the post merger integration of the two acquisitions, whereas ir could just as easily be the focus on the Borland and Compuware deals will take the focus away from their legacy migration business, and whether this is a strategic decision to diversify, or whether these skills compliment this part of the business.

Migration and modernisation have long been seen as the plumbing and rather dirty end of the IT business. In the current environment, and indeed as we go forward with the backdrop of weak economic growth the old Yorkshire adage of "where there's muck there's brass" might apply to this segment of the business.