Serverware Group plc was a software company formed in November 1983 following a

management buyout A management buyout (MBO) is a form of acquisition in which a company's existing managers acquire a large part, or all, of the company, whether from a parent company or individual. Management- and/or leveraged buyouts became noted phenomena of 19 ...

of Information Systems Group plc.

Early history

The company was formed by Peter Seldon (father of journalist

Myma Seldon Myma Seldon (born 9 August 1979) is a British television and radio presenter and voiceover artist. Background Seldon was born Jemima Seldon on 9 August 1979 in Farnborough, London, England. She has a 2:1 English/Philosophy B.A. (Hons) from Leeds ...

) and Selim Kohen to develop

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software Software consists of computer programs that instruct the Execution (computing), execution of a computer. Software also includes design documents and specifications. The history of software is closely tied to the development of digital comput ...

. Initially the software focus was on

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and Pick software, but in the mid-1990s the company moved into

Windows NT Windows NT is a Proprietary software, proprietary Graphical user interface, graphical operating system produced by Microsoft as part of its Windows product line, the first version of which, Windows NT 3.1, was released on July 27, 1993. Original ...

software development. While the core business was software development, the company also resold products developed by other manufacturers (such as Diskeeper, FAXmaker,

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, Quota Manager and Remotely Possible) to help with the funding of their own software.

SeNTry

The first NT product to be developed by the company was SeNTry. This allowed administrators to monitor the Event Logs of multiple Windows NT computers from a central location. The list of product features grew as development continued until, in June 1998 the

intellectual property rights Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

were bought by Mission Critical Software, Inc., who renamed the product Enterprise Event Manager. They later merged with

NetIQ NetIQ is a security software company. In 2023 it was acquired by OpenText. NetIQ was previously based in San Jose, California, with products that provide identity and access management, security and data center management. Its flagship offerin ...

,. No code from SeNTry was part of the Mission Critical-developed product Operations Manager which was later licensed to Microsoft.

Enterprise Configuration Manager

Following the successful sale of SeNTry, Serverware began development of a new management tool. Originally named ''eNTts'' (or enhanced NT tool set) the product allowed administrators to manage and control Windows NT services, DLLs and user passwords on remote Windows NT computers. Later versions increased the feature count by adding registry monitoring,

Emergency Repair Disk *''For information about generic boot/recovery discs, see Recovery disc'' A Microsoft Windows Emergency Repair Disk (ERD) is a specially formatted diskette that creates backups of important system files and settings and is used to troubleshoot and ...

creation and more. In 1999 the rights to the product (by this time named Enterprise Configuration Manager or ECM) was sold to a company named Configuresoft, Inc., which was founded for this purpose. Serverware took a stake in the new

start-up A startup or start-up is a company or project undertaken by an entrepreneur to seek, develop, and validate a scalable business model. While entrepreneurship includes all new businesses including self-employment and businesses that do not intend ...

as part of the deal.

Serverware after Selim Kohen

In 2000 Technical Director Selim Kohen died, aged 50. As he had been the driving force behind the development of new products the company scaled back their development work, and continued operating primarily as a

reseller A reseller is a company or individual ( merchant) that purchases goods or services with the intention of selling them rather than consuming or using them. Individual resellers are often referred to as middle men. This is usually done for profit ( ...

, and the UK distributor for ''ECM'' and Aftama IETP technology. In 2008 Serverware group formed a subsidiary of the main company that specialised in the needs of Government in the UK and

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they appointed a new CEO to run this operation and develop the core offerings of Serverware Group going forward. The company was dissolved on 27 April 2017.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Company website
Defunct software companies of the United Kingdom