Microsoft Buys Policy Management Developer

Microsoft on Monday announced it had acquired privately-held DesktopStandard Corp., a New Hampshire-based developer of Group Policy-based enterprise desktop management software. Financial terms were not disclosed.

The company claims more than 3,500 customers and says that its software manages over 4 million desktops.

The deal brings DesktopStandard's GPOVault, PolicyMaker Standard Edition, Registry Extension, Software Update, and Share Manager to Microsoft, where they will be rolled into and extend Microsoft's own Group Policy Management Console (GPMC). The company's chief technology officer and co-founder, Eric Voskuil, will join the Windows Enterprise Management Division as a software architect.

DesktopStandard's product line -- minus PolicyMaker Application Security -- will supplement GPMC to simplify rights administration through Active Directory; improve compliance, particularly security compliance, management; and offer a deeper rights toolset to Windows users, said Microsoft. The company will continue to operate as a wholly-owned Microsoft subsidiary as its technology is migrated to the Redmond, Wash. vendor. One product, PolicyMaker Software Update, will be discontinued; the rest will be sold by existing DesktopStandard partners and direct from Microsoft.

"This acquisition enhances our ability to meet customers' needs to perform Group Policy lifecycle management, consolidate the number of policy objects being managed, and increase desktop management functionality," said Larry Orecklin, the general manager of the Windows enterprise management group, in a statement.

The one title not purchased by Microsoft, PolicyMaker Application Security, will be sold by BeyondTrust, formerly a subsidiary of DesktopStandard but now out on its own. John Moyer, DesktopStandard's chief executive, will head BeyondTrust.