Why Clearwater's Sunbelt Software thought it best to sell the company

A 16-year-old Clearwater tech company whose security software protects some of your PCs and laptops from nasty attacks on the Internet says it sold itself to an out-of-state competitor.

That's typically how far our tech coverage might go on a busy day when one private business here gets gobbled up by another whose name is not familiar to most of us. It's just another "local minnow swallowed by bigger fish" tale.

Except there are more insights to this story. And there are lessons to be learned for a Tampa Bay area still fighting to build a credible foundation of technology companies and the savvy work force to fill their needs.

First, the news. Clearwater's Sunbelt Software, which makes computer security software with brand names like VIPRE antivirus or CounterSpy antispyware, agreed to be acquired by a larger competitor called GFI Software out of Raleigh, N.C. Both companies are private and the terms of the deal are not public. But Sunbelt has about 240 employees. GFI has more than 300 employees and sales topping $100 million.

Veteran software executive Alex Eckelberry, 43, joined Sunbelt eight years ago after stints at firms like Borland, Quarterdeck and Mijenix. In an interview Wednesday, the CEO was frank in explaining why it was time for Sunbelt to sell and become part of a larger but still focused software business. Eckelberry cites three big issues:

First, managing fast growth at Sunbelt was getting tougher. Parts of Sunbelt were growing from 60 to 100 percent a year. Could Sunbelt hire good people fast enough? Could it maintain quality service? Says Eckelberry: "Companies can be killed by fast growth."

Second, the market is changing. More companies are moving their technology needs to be serviced by third-party businesses, which did not play to Sunbelt's product line. Another trend involves companies renting, not buying, computer services over the Internet. It's called "cloud" computing and, again, did not play to Sunbelt's strengths.

Third, its business was 95 percent domestic and not geared up for international sales. That needed to be fixed for long-term growth.

At first, Eckelberry went looking for an investor who could add fresh capital into Sunbelt. He talked to the venture capitalist firm Insight Venture Partners about a growth strategy. It put him in touch with one of the firms in its own portfolio of companies: GFI Software.

"It was not my intention to sell the company, but it made sense," Eckelberry explains. GFI has big international sales and is strong in areas where Sunbelt has made less headway.

As part of GFI, the Sunbelt name will go away. But Eckelberry says the Clearwater presence should only grow. He will remain to expand the VIPRE and related security products under the GFI name, as will the bulk of Sunbelt employees.

"Yes," Eckelberry says, "it's sad to see a local company go away, but this is better in the long run."

For Tampa Bay, Eckelberry sees the need to keep adding to its lean technology base with expanding companies and a deeper bench of IT workers.

GFI was worried, he says, that Sunbelt's 90 developers and other tech staff would get picked off by other area firms once the acquisition occurred. Eckelberry told them not to worry: "This is not California with 18 other firms circling the wagons."

But one day, he's hoping that such competition will be a common problem for tech firms in Tampa Bay. It's a crucial goal.

Robert Trigaux can be reached at trigaux@sptimes.com.