Marshal's back in town

Ed Macnair has led the resurrection of Marshal Software. Picture / Glenn Jeffrey

When Ed Macnair heard of Marshal he was less than complimentary about the New Zealand software business.

"I was trying to convince a large ISP to buy my company's service but they said they'd been testing this stuff from Marshal," he recalled.

"I asked why they'd want to deal with some small company in New Zealand that no one had ever heard of."

Six years on, however, and the affable Englishman is chief executive, part owner (as are most employees) and something of a hero among Marshal devotees for leading the management buy-out that's brought the company back to where it all began.

"I received a deluge of emails from customers saying this was the best thing that could happen," he said. "Marshal's always had a cult following but this was absolutely amazing."

The successful products we now know as MailMarshal and WebMarshal were developed by Auckland-based software and networking specialist DesignerTech, before being spun off as Marshal Software. Bought by NetIQ for $45 million in December 2002, the operation was shipped offshore. About two years ago, Macnair - now head of worldwide sales of Marshal products - broached the idea of a buy-out.

"The spark for buying it back was probably the day I heard the company was being sold to NetIQ," he explained. "I was sitting in Manukau and listening to why they were buying Marshal and I realised they had it badly wrong.

"I asked the board whether they'd consider either making Marshal a separate business unit or selling. It was obvious to me that they never really understood where Marshal fitted within their organisation and weren't maximising the opportunity."

Eventually, NetIQ said yes. The next step was to raise a "significant amount of money" to buy it. "Aside from raiding everyone's piggy bank, I went to six potential financial backers and pitched the Marshal story - the amazing thing was, we got five offers."

The sale went ahead and the re-invented Marshal has been quick off the blocks. "All we had were the assets of Marshal - the core intellectual property, the code, and a list of customers. We had to create infrastructure from scratch. From a standing start in December, it's been quite staggering."

The company now boasts nearly 100 staff, seven offices, and around-the-clock customer support, based across Auckland, Houston, and Basingstoke. A team of 30 R&D and support staff are based at Auckland's Great South Rd.

It has released its first new product, Image Analyser, a "revolutionary new way of looking for pornography", as well as updates of MailMarshal and WebMarshal.

"In the old days, everyone was worried about solving the spam problem. Today, the big driver is regulatory compliance. We'll soon be releasing a product that helps people achieve compliance by archiving. It'll be completely new. It's very, very smart."

Although the financing package required the company to have its head office in Britain (50 per cent of sales are also in Europe) its spirit once again lies in New Zealand.

"Coming back has given a lot of people a tremendous amount of pride," said Macnair. "We've got probably 80 per cent of our old development team back - they're just immensely passionate about what they do."

Proof of the success lies in product renewal rates. "During the NetIQ days, renewal rates dipped to 80 per cent. Already we're over 97 per cent."

Revenues are also up, 80 per cent in the quarter to March and an estimated 70 per cent to June.

"This year the aim is to increase revenue and customers by 30 per cent.

"I want to make Marshal into the leading company in content security worldwide.

"It deserves to be - it will be."

THE CV

Who: Ed Macnair, CEO.

Where: Back home in Auckland, New Zealand, and six other offices worldwide.

What: Management buy-out has re-created software developer and content security specialist Marshal as a standalone entity.

Why: "NetIQ had it badly wrong and were not maximising the opportunity. We've got some brilliant brains on email and our aim is to be the world leader in content security."