How Micro Focus Helps Organizations Build, Operate, and Secure the Systems They Need Today and Create the Innovations That Drive Their Futures

TL; DR: Micro Focus is no stranger to the software development space. Founded more than four decades ago, the company is a pioneer in IT and has been innovating computing solutions for businesses — from small- and medium-sized operations to large, enterprise-level organizations — ever since. Micro Focus’s latest merger with Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) continues this dedication to offer its customers cutting-edge hybrid IT solutions that maximize return on investment. By joining forces with another giant in the industry, Micro Focus is able to help modern businesses zero in on a portfolio of scalable tools that optimize DevOps, risk assessment, and predictive analytics to leverage what’s worked for them in the past and cultivate the new technologies that will drive their futures.

Founded in 1976, Micro Focus has a long history of empowering businesses with innovative IT products. Initially, the company primarily concentrated on developing software in COBOL (common business-oriented language), including CIS COBOL — a version of COBOL specifically for microcomputers. In the decades that followed, Micro Focus would partner with several other companies, including NetManage and Progress Software, to bring about a wide range of business-oriented applications and services.

In the mid-2010s, Micro Focus underwent a series of mergers with The Attachmate Corporation, Authasas, and Serena Software to further its portfolio of IT solutions. But, with analysts predicting that cloud and hybrid IT infrastructures will become almost mandatory for businesses by 2020, Micro Focus’s leadership knew a big move in that direction was necessary to stay competitive.

As a result, the company made the move in 2017 to join forces with another giant in the computing space — Hewlett-Packard Enterprise (HPE). Immediately following the deal, Chris Hsu, former COO of HPE, was appointed CEO of Micro Focus.

“It is our mission to provide a best-in-class portfolio of enterprise-grade, scalable software with analytics built in,” Chris said. “Driven by this mission, Micro Focus is uniquely positioned to help customers and partners address opportunities and challenges within the new hybrid model for enterprise IT.”

The primary advantage of hybrid IT is the combination of lightning-fast public cloud-based services with private in-house resource management.

For businesses — especially SMBs operating without the luxury of in-house IT departments — the time, money, and headaches saved by switching to cloud or hybrid computing is significant. For the last four decades, Micro Focus has helped prepare businesses for the future, and its latest merger with HPE is a testament to its dedication to innovation.

Across its 40-year run, Micro Focus has undergone several transformations and mergers. In 1998, Micro Focus acquired both Intersolv Inc. and XDB systems. Until 2001, this combined business was renamed Merant and implemented XDB’s Enterprise Server, as well as Intersolv’s varied portfolio of business IT solutions.

Between 2008 and 2017, Micro Focus also acquired Borland, NetManage, Progress Software, Serena Software, and Attachmate. Its latest merger with Hewlett Packard Enterprise was announced in September 2016, and was completed a year later. The newly combined Micro Focus has become the world’s seventh-largest pure-play software company.

The merger has brought two major software leaders together under one roof and is designed to help customers embrace innovation in hybrid IT, as well as maximize current investments.

“Today marks a significant milestone for Micro Focus, and I am honored to be leading this team,” Chris said. “We are bringing together a powerful combination of technology and talent uniquely positioned to drive customer-centered innovation at the enterprise scale.”

The merger combined the workforce of thousands of employees, and Micro Focus is the largest UK technology firm listed on the London Stock Exchange, boasting promising prospects for future revenue and growth.

With an extensive software portfolio, Micro Focus is now more capable than ever to empower businesses with powerful DevOps, analysis, security, and infrastructure management solutions. Micro Focus’s two-pronged approach aims to “bridge the old and new,” according to Kevin Loosemore, Micro Focus’s Executive Chairman.

The company’s expansive library of software includes more than 100 apps for authentication, automation, and management purposes. Software tools can be divided into four interlocking categories: DevOps, hybrid IT, security and risk management, and predictive analytics.

DevOps uses early lifecycle testing to ensure the rapid delivery of applications. Tools achieve constant integration with continuous testing, predictive analysis, and performance management. Hybrid delivery processes can be customized for optimized speed, quality, and scaling.

Hybrid IT involves delivering tools to help manage an organization’s hybrid cloud infrastructure, including several consumable suites related to analytics, operations, and automation for datacenters and IT services. This category also includes a tool for container lifecycle management, which enables businesses to provision, deploy, remediate, and ensure the compliance and security of new-generation apps. In addition, ChatOps helps drive collaborative efforts with transparent workflows.

Security and risk management allows businesses to “secure the new” with integrated security analytics, real-time event data, application testing, log parsing, central identity management, account monitoring, and more. This is one of Micro Focus’s largest and most popular categories of software, in use by companies in the healthcare, automotive, and financial fields.

Predictive analytics employs a variety of integrated, open-source analytics systems from Vertica, a leader in helping businesses make smart, data-driven decisions. Vertica’s offerings include analytics for customer behavior, IoT (Internet of Things), fraud risk management, and communication statistics. Analysis is achieved through Vertica’s open platform, which includes database connectivity, Hadoop data lake testing, and even machine learning capabilities.

Not only does Micro Focus (together with HPE and other partners) provide an expansive library of software, but the dual company also provides support and consultation services. Micro Focus Consulting helps businesses design and implement reliable, secure business solutions that take advantage of both new and legacy applications.

“It is [also] our mission to put customers at the center of our innovation, building high-quality products that our teams can be proud of,” Chris said. “Driven by this mission, Micro Focus is uniquely positioned to help customers and partners address opportunities and challenges within the new hybrid model for enterprise IT — from mainframe, to mobile, to cloud.”

Micro Focus is dedicated to bringing world-class, enterprise-level software to businesses in need. The company encourages the adoption of customer-driven innovation, while also enabling these organizations to maximize the return on existing investments.

Micro Focus’s approach to innovation is a reflection of the company’s long history of partnerships — the business has undergone several transformations to become what it is today, adopting countless new technologies, all while preserving past successes.

Micro Focus has spent 40 years helping businesses make the most of their investments. By combining the best aspects of old and new software and practices, the organization has demonstrated its dedication to customers time and time again.

“Our business strategy remains sound: bringing together software assets that deliver a high degree of value to our investors and an expansive solution portfolio to our customers so they can maximize the value of existing IT investments and adopt new technologies,” Kevin said. “We’re excited to have Chris lead our combined company as we embark on this journey of uniting to create a world-class enterprise software company.”

The merger with HPE has made Micro Focus one of the largest pure-play companies in the world. Pure-play describes businesses that are primarily dedicated to a single product type or industry. For Micro Focus, the term implies a heavy focus on business empowerment — most Micro Focus products and services revolve around future-proofing businesses and easing the transition to hybrid IT.

Given Micro Focus’s long history of joining forces with developers, innovators, and leaders, the company is primarily customer-driven. As hybrid and pure-cloud IT become more prevalent, enterprises looking to introduce innovative technologies and platforms while capitalizing on current investments and minimizing new risk can turn to Micro Focus’s rich history and expertise as a partner in this transformation.