In a recent interview for Computerworld in New Zealand, Objective CEO Tony Walls says "....we will never sell off." This reminded me of a conversation I had with Dave DeWalt at the time of the EMC acquisition of Documentum, when he told me he was with EMC for the long haul. He left EMC this week to become CEO of McAfee. I didn't believe Dave DeWalt at the time, but what else was he supposed to say? Likewise what can Wallis freely say? Yet as soon as somebody makes such definitive statements you do start to wonder what the opposite take might be.

Australia has produced some outstanding records and document management technologies, the last two of substance still free-standing are Objective and TOWER Software, both selling heavily into Australian and New Zealand governments. Yet there is only so much government to be serviced in those 2 countries. TOWER is starting to see some success in the USA and outside of its core markets; at the same time Objective's share price has fallen.....so one has to wonder if a merger weren't in the cards at some point?