Article · Wikipedia archive · Last revised Jun 2, 2026

Micromuse

Micromuse was a network management software company founded in London in 1989 and headquartered from 1997 in San Francisco.

Last revised
Jun 2, 2026
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≈ 4 min
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Wikipedia ↗
Micromuse Inc.
Company type
Public
Nasdaq: MUSE
IndustrySoftware
Founded1989
FounderChristopher Dawes
Phil Tee1
Defunct2006 (2006)
FateAcquired by IBM
Headquarters
San Francisco
Key people
Stephen Allott
(President until 2001)
Greg Brown
(CEO until 2002)
Lloyd Carney
(CEO from 2003)

Micromuse was a network management software company founded in London in 1989 and headquartered from 1997 in San Francisco.2

Micromuse's valuation peaked at $7.8 billion in December 2000 (inflation adjusted to $15.2 billion in 2026), making it the most valuable organically-grown UK-origin software company in history.[1] The company was later acquired by IBM in 2005.3

Products

The company's products include Netcool/OMNIbus, Netcool/Impact and Netcool/RAD (Realtime Active Dashboards) which would later become members of the Tivoli Software portfolio.45 Netcool/OMNIbus and Netcool/Impact continued as IBM products, keeping its original name whereas Netcool/RAD (and some other Micromuse products) were renamed Tivoli Business Service Manager (TBSM), not to be confused with an earlier IBM product named Tivoli Business Systems Manager.

History

Micromuse was founded by Christopher Dawes and Angela Dawes (née Collinge), in London, in 1989.67

Micromuse originated in London Chelsea and then moved to Putney Bridge Road in Wandsworth. Incorporated in 1989 as a hardware and software value added reseller, it became Micromuse plc.8

Micromuse became a VAR of Sun Microsystems hardware and software (a “Sun VAR”) focused on telecom and finance customers.9 It became the UK distributor of Sun Net Manager while it also sold HP OpenView software and NetMetrix probes.

Michael Jackson (of Sage, Party Gaming and Elderstreet) was the angel investor and joined the Micromuse p.l.c. board.

In 1993, the company set up its Netcool network fault management software development team led by Martin Butterworth, Adam Kerrison and Mark Peach. Micromuse acquired Phil Tee's company OMNIbus Transport Technologies Ltd. The teams were integrated to form the Netcool/OMNIbus development team. By 1994, early Netcool customers were BT Dorking and BT Managed Network Services, BT Net and Goldman Sachs.10

In September 1995, Stephen Allott joined as Commercial Director reporting to Chris Dawes, (Founder and chairman). Allott joined from McKinsey & Company following Sun Microsystems’ suggestion. At this point the company employed some 50 people in total of which 8 were in the Netcool team. Netcool was worth about $10 million at this point on 1995 revenues of $1 million. The VAR division employed 42 people with gross revenues of $13 million.

Allott was appointed as managing director by the Dawes family.11 He developed and executed the internet growth strategy for the company and the growth strategy for Netcool, selling the VAR division in 1997 to focus on Netcool. The company incorporated Micromuse Inc. as a US holding company with offices in San Francisco (HQ), New York and Dallas.

Allott, now SVP Finance, led the NASDAQ IPO process culminating in the listing on 14 February 1998.12

In October 1998, the company announced that Allott, the Chief Financial Officer of the company, was named president and appointed a Director of the Company and that Christopher J. Dawes had resigned as a Director. Allott took over leadership.13

In March 1999, Allott led the recruitment of Greg Brown who joined as chairman and CEO. From then, Allott as president, CFO and a main board director reported to Greg.14 Under their leadership, Micromuse achieved its peak valuation of $7.8 billion in December 2000 (inflation adjusted to $15.2 billion in 2026).[2]

In 2001, Allott was appointed as a Venture Partner of Fidelity (London) and was appointed as chairman of Jacobs Rimell Ltd (London) and stepped down from all his positions at Micromuse.

In 2002, Greg Brown was replaced by Lloyd Carney.15

In June 2002, Micromuse entered into an agreement to purchase rival firm RiverSoft for £43 million.16 RiverSoft was founded by Phil Tee after he left Micromuse in 1996.17

In December 2002, the company chairman and chief executive officer Greg Brown announced his resignation, and his move to become executive vice president of Motorola.18 Brown had worked for Micromuse since 1999.

In July 2003, Lloyd Carney was named CEO and chairman of the board, replacing Mike Luetkemeyer who was the interim CEO.19

In July 2005, Micromuse announced an agreement to acquire GuardedNet Inc, a computer security company based in Atlanta, for $16.2 million in cash.20

Dawes had died when his McLaren F1 car crashed in Essex, in 1999.21

In December 2005, IBM entered into an agreement to acquire Micromuse for approximately $865 million in cash.22

Record Valuation

Micromuse is the most valuable organically grown UK-origin software company in history, achieving a peak valuation of $7.8 billion in late 2000. Adjusted for UK inflation this is $15.2 billion in 2026 according to the Bank of England.23 This is based upon a peak share value of $106.22 on 31 December 2000 with 73,760,749 shares.[3] Forbes indicated a valuation of $5.4 billion in the second quarter of 2000.24

References

References

  1. "A business need for better intelligence". Channelweb.co.uk. 2005-07-25. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  2. "Micromuse Inc". IT History Society. 2015-12-15. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  3. Lohr, Steve (2005-12-22). "I.B.M. to Buy Micromuse for $865 Million". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  4. "Tivoli Netcool/OMNIbus". 01.ibm.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  5. "Micromuse Unveils Streamlined Brand Architecture for Netcool Product Family". Businesswire.com. 2003-05-12. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  6. Harrison, Linda (1999-03-22). "Micromuse founder killed in F1 smash". Theregister.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  7. "IBM Closes 2005 With Capture of Micromuse". It-analysis.com. 2006-01-03. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  8. "Micromuse P.L.C., London , SW18 1DA". www.businessmagnet.co.uk. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  9. "Sun Microsystems", Wikipedia, 2025-05-15, retrieved 2025-05-17
  10. "Micromuse Gets Netcooler". www.lightreading.com. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  11. "Micromuse Announces CEO Search, Management Transition and Share Repurchase Program of 1,500,000 Shares; Stephen Allott Appointed President and Director. - Free Online Library". 2017-02-07. Archived from the original on 7 February 2017. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  12. "SEC archives".
  13. "SEC archive".
  14. Writer, CBR Staff (1999-02-18). "MICROMUSE FINALLY APPOINTS NEW CHAIRMAN AND CEO". Tech Monitor. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  15. "Press Release dated July 29, 2003". www.sec.gov. Retrieved 2025-05-17.
  16. "Micromuse to buy Riversoft for £43m". Zdnet.com. 2002-06-19. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  17. Finance. "Tee surrenders Riversoft to rival". Telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  18. "Micromuse CEO named to Motorola post". Bizjournals.com. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  19. "Micromuse names new CEO". Bizjournals.com. 2003-07-29. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  20. "Micromuse Enters into Agreement to Acquire GuardedNet Inc". Businesswire.com. 2005-07-05. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  21. "Eclipse of the Man in Black". The Observer. 1999-03-28. ISSN 0029-7712. Retrieved 2023-08-08.
  22. "IBM to Acquire Micromuse Inc". 03.ibm.com. Archived from the original on December 24, 2005. Retrieved 2012-10-01.
  23. "Inflation calculator". www.bankofengland.co.uk. Retrieved 2026-04-30.
  24. Dolan, Kerry A. "The Age Of The $100 Million CEO". Forbes. Retrieved 2026-04-30.