Intersolv

Micro Focus International plc

Company type	Public (until 2023)
Industry	Software and information technology services
Founded	1976 (1976)
Founder	Brian Reynolds
Defunct	January 31, 2023 (2023-01-31)
Fate	Acquired by OpenText
Headquarters	Newbury, Berkshire , England, United Kingdom
Area served	Worldwide
Key people	Chris Hsu (former CEO)
Products	Software products and consultancy solutions
Parent	OpenText (from 2023)

Micro Focus International plc was a British-based multinational enterprise specializing in software and information technology services, headquartered in Newbury, Berkshire, England. The company offered both software products and consultancy solutions. It was publicly traded on the London Stock Exchange and the New York Stock Exchange until its takeover by Canadian software company OpenText in January 2023.

History

Established in 1976 by Brian Reynolds in Notting Hill, Micro Focus earned distinction in 1981 as the first organization to receive the Queen's Award for Industry exclusively for a software product, with CIS COBOL—a COBOL implementation compliant with standards designed for microcomputers.

In 1998, Micro Focus purchased Intersolv, Inc., a firm focused on applications enablement, for , subsequently rebranding the merged entity as Merant. That same year, it also acquired XDB Systems along with its relational database technology, XDB Enterprise Server. By 2001, Micro Focus separated from Merant with support from Golden Gate Capital Partners, reverting to its original name. The company was then listed on the London Stock Exchange in 2005.

In May 2007, Micro Focus expanded its development tools portfolio by acquiring Acucorp, Inc., based in San Diego, which brought ACUCOBOL-GT into its offerings. The following year, in June 2008, it acquired Israeli NASDAQ-listed NetManage for , and shortly thereafter in July 2008 purchased Austin-based Liant Software Corporation to add RM/COBOL and PL/I product lines.

Micro Focus broadened its application lifecycle management capabilities in July 2009 through the acquisitions of Borland and Compuware’s Quality Solutions division, which included TestPartner automation tools.

In December 2013, the company strengthened its middleware portfolio by acquiring Orbix, Orbacus, and Artix product lines from Progress Software, all CORBA implementations originally developed by IONA Technologies.

On 15 September 2014, Micro Focus declared a $1.2 billion share acquisition of The Attachmate Group, thereby obtaining Attachmate, NetIQ, Novell, and SUSE product lines. Following this transaction, investment groups backing Attachmate held a 40% ownership stake in Micro Focus. This deal also positioned Micro Focus as the owner of the Unix operating system.

The acquisition of Authasas in 2015 enhanced Micro Focus’s authentication middleware offerings.

On 22 March 2016, Micro Focus announced its intention to acquire Serena Software for $540 million; this transaction was completed on 2 May 2016.

Micro Focus revealed plans on 7 September 2016 to merge with Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s software division; this merger concluded on 1 September 2017, forming one of the largest independent pure-play software companies globally.

In October 2016, Micro Focus acquired Gwava Inc., marking an entry into enterprise information archiving solutions.

On 19 March 2018, following a significant revenue downgrade that caused shares to drop by 55%, CEO Chris Hsu resigned from his position.

In July 2018, Micro Focus divested its SUSE business segment to private equity firm EQT AB for $2.535 billion.

The company further expanded into cybersecurity by acquiring Turkish firm ATAR Labs for $8 million in July 2020.

In August 2022, Canadian software corporation OpenText announced a $6 billion deal to purchase Micro Focus. The acquisition received court approval on 27 January 2023 and was finalized on 31 January 2023.

Acucorp, Inc.

Established in 1988 by siblings Pamela Coker, who serves as CEO, and Drake Coker, the Chief Scientist, Acucorp is notable for Drake's creation of the Vision file system alongside the COBOL compiler ACUCOBOL-85, currently known as ACUCOBOL-GT. This compiler is distinguished by its comprehensive extensions that facilitate programming and managing graphical user interfaces (GUIs), allowing developers to embed fully functional GUIs entirely within COBOL-based applications.

Liant Software Corporation

Liant Software Corporation originated in 1983 from the collaboration behind Digitek and its successor, Ryan-McFarland Corporation. Following its acquisition by Austec and subsequently Language Processors, Inc., the company was rebranded as Liant Software Corporation before being purchased by Micro Focus International. Throughout the mid-1990s, Liant continued to promote its Open PL/I product line.

Ryan-McFarland Corporation

Founded by Dave McFarland and Don Ryan, both formerly associated with Digitek, Ryan-McFarland Corporation focused on producing FORTRAN, COBOL, and BASIC compilers tailored for the personal computer market. The company was a prominent supplier of standard compilers and development tools during the 1980s and early 1990s.