RES Software Raises Capital to Lead “Workspace Management” Market

Published 2nd July 2009

Raises $12.5 million from leading US-based growth equity firm – Updata Partners

Workspace Management Critical to Next Wave of Enterprise Desktops –
Virtual Desktops, Thin Clients, and Traditional Desktops

CAMBERLEY, SURREY, June 30th, 2009 – RES Software, the leader in User Workspace Management software, today announced it has secured $12.5 million dollars in expansion funding from Updata Partners to better capitalise it for global growth. Workspace Management software enables an enterprise to centrally compose, deliver and manage an end user’s “personal” workspace – the unique combination of personal desktop settings, security clearances, and administrative profile – separately from the user’s underlying applications, systems software, and hardware. This greatly simplifies IT administration, ensures compliance, and saves money. RES Software has a current customer base of over 2,500 companies which purchased approximately 800,000 licenses of its user workspace delivery software, and it recorded over seventeen million Euros (approx. twenty-four million US$) in net revenue in 2008.

"Updata’s investment is a vote of confidence that the time is right for RES Software and User Workspace Management,” said Hans Middelburg, RES Software chief executive officer. “Our customers are reaching for the promise of new technologies like desktop virtualisation, but are held back by the challenges of rising desktop complexity. With our RES PowerFuse solution we bridge that gap, as we have proven with leading organisations in Europe. Now with this funding we are poised to bring value to even more customers worldwide.”

The User Workspace Management market is generating increasing attention as analysts recognise that the desktop configuration of the future will be a mix of traditional workstations, thin clients and remote terminals, and virtual desktops, with the complexity of managing all the end user information a key challenge for IT. In addition, analysts have reported that Workspace Management will be a critical enabling technology for the coming wave of desktop virtualisation. (For more information see the Butler Group Technology Audit)

As an example of the market growth, Credit Suisse estimates the desktop virtualisation market to grow to at least $1.8 billion by 2012 from minimal deployments now, which would constitute a 5.1% penetration in the professional desktop PC market. IDC, in their 2009 Virtualisation Services Survey, mentions that 30% of the respondents were actively evaluating desktop virtualisation today. Finally, Gartner estimates spending on x86 server and desktop virtualisation software technologies is forecast to grow at a 33.6% compound annual growth rate through 2013.

Commensurate with the new funding, Rich Erickson and James Socas, General Partners of Updata Partners, will join the RES Software Board of Directors. They will work together with existing directors, Hans Middelburg and chief financial officer Erik Biekart, as well as an independent chairman to be announced shortly. Updata is a leading US growth equity firm with over $500 million in assets under management and a ten year investment focus on enterprise software, services and digital media.

Mr. Socas commented, “RES Software has an enviable position in one of the fastest growing and most important software opportunities out there today: User Workspace Management. Customers, industry analysts, and partners all speak to the power of their products, and our funding will help bring RES Software to a wider audience and lead the market.” Mr. Erickson added, “We are excited to be part of this new chapter in the RES Software story, at a time when new infrastructure, like desktop virtualisation, is driving so much opportunity and growth.”

About RES Software
RES Software is the leading provider of User Workspace Management software. Since 1999 we have enabled our business, government and education customers to efficiently compose, deliver and manage personalized and secure user workspaces for their customers. Our Workspace Management products bridge the gap between traditional desktop management, thin clients, and virtual desktops. Currently more than 2,500 organisations worldwide have purchased products from our portfolio. RES Software products are exclusively delivered through a network of certified partners. RES Software is a global company based in the Netherlands with eight additional offices across Europe, and sales and support operations in the U.S.