Attachmate

Attachmate Corporation

Company type	Private
Industry	Computer software Technology services
Founded	December 1982 (1982-12), in Bellevue, Washington, United States
Founder	Frank W. Pritt
Defunct	June 1, 2005 (2005-06-01)
Fate	Acquired by The Attachmate Group (April 18, 2005 (2005-04-18))
Headquarters	Bellevue, Washington , United States
Area served	Worldwide
Products	Extra! (terminal emulator) Reflection (terminal emulator) KEAterm DCA IRMA
Revenue	US$400 million (combined, 1994)1
Number of employees	2,200 (1994, post-merger)
Parent	The Attachmate Group
Website	www.attachmate.com

Attachmate Corporation was an American private software company founded in December 1982 in Bellevue, Washington by Frank W. Pritt. It focused on terminal emulation, legacy integration, and interoperability software connecting IBM-compatible PCs to mainframe and midrange systems. At its peak in the mid-1990s, following its 1994 merger with Digital Communications Associates (DCA), Attachmate held approximately 35% of the worldwide terminal emulation market and was described as the largest company devoted to connectivity software in the world.¹ In April 2005, a group of private equity firms simultaneously acquired Attachmate and long-time competitor WRQ, Inc. and merged them into The Attachmate Group.

Frank W. Pritt founded Attachmate in December 1982 after leaving a sales and marketing position at Harris Corporation, initially operating from his home using personal retirement savings.² The company's first product, Extra!, allowed IBM-compatible PCs to emulate IBM mainframe terminals, bridging personal computers with legacy enterprise systems. Pritt deliberately designed Extra! to include features that only a fraction of the initial market required, expecting broader demand to follow.

Attachmate grew rapidly through the 1980s: revenue reached $5.3 million in 1986, $13.6 million in 1987, and $31 million in 1988.² By the late 1980s the company had become one of the Seattle area's largest software employers.

Revenue continued to accelerate into the early 1990s, reaching $90 million in 1991 and $123 million in 1992, making Attachmate the top company in the host-connectivity market.² In June 1993, Pritt attributed the growth to shifting from distributors to a direct sales force.² In May 1994, the company filed a preliminary prospectus with the SEC for an initial public offering expected to raise $87–$101 million; the offering was withdrawn in July 1994 citing poor market conditions.

On December 31, 1993, Attachmate acquired KEA Systems Ltd., a Vancouver, British Columbia company whose KEAterm products emulated Digital Equipment Corporation VT terminals for Windows and MS-DOS PCs.³ KEA Systems was retained as Attachmate Canada. Financial terms were not disclosed.

On November 24, 1994, Attachmate announced a merger with Digital Communications Associates (DCA), a company founded in 1972 and headquartered in Alpharetta, Georgia. The deal closed December 15, 1994.¹ DCA had acquired the IRMA board business—hardware adapters that enabled IBM PCs to emulate IBM 3270 mainframe terminals—from Technical Analysis Corporation in 1981, and had acquired Microstuf, makers of the Crosstalk communications software, in 1986. At the time of the merger, DCA was generating $241 million in annual sales.

The merged entity retained the Attachmate name and Bellevue headquarters. Frank Pritt became chairman and CEO; DCA's James Lindner took the roles of president and COO. Combined, the company had nearly $400 million in annual revenue, approximately 2,200 employees, and a 35% worldwide market share in terminal emulation—ahead of IBM's 23%.¹

Management conflict followed the merger. By July 1996 Pritt had dismissed Lindner and resumed the CEO role.² A server software product released in 1996 was discontinued the same year following a conflict with Microsoft.² Attachmate failed to adapt as corporations shifted data from mainframe architectures to server-based networks and the internet. By 2001 revenue had declined to an estimated $319 million and headcount had fallen from the post-merger peak of 2,200 to approximately 1,200.²

WRQ, a Seattle-based competitor founded in 1981, had been acquired by a consortium of private equity firms—Golden Gate Capital, Francisco Partners, and Thoma Cressey Equity Partners (later Thoma Bravo)—on December 29, 2004.⁴ On April 18, 2005, the same investors—expanded to include JMI Equity and BlackRock Capital Investment—simultaneously acquired Attachmate and announced its merger with WRQ.⁵ Frank Pritt retired at that time. The merger closed June 1, 2005, with the combined company named AttachmateWRQ and headquartered at WRQ's Seattle offices.⁶ The combined workforce was approximately 1,000 employees. The merged entity was later renamed The Attachmate Group.

The Extra! family of terminal emulator packages was Attachmate's original product, present from the company's founding in 1982. It supported 3270, 5250, and VT100 terminal protocols.²

Acquired from KEA Systems in 1993, the KEAterm line emulated Digital Equipment Corporation VT terminals, enabling Windows and MS-DOS PCs to communicate with IBM mainframe and DEC midrange systems.³

Acquired through the 1994 DCA merger, the IRMA line included the 3270 IRMA ISA adapter cards for SDLC connections and associated terminal emulation software.⁷

The Reflection family of products, developed by WRQ and inherited through the 2005 merger, provided terminal emulation and secure connectivity for Windows environments, supporting IBM 3270/5250 and VT/HP terminal protocols.⁶