Microsoft reportedly has purchased Gteko, an Israeli networking and support software vendor for an undisclosed quantity. The offer supposedly might be disclosed officially inside a few days. Gteko’s mission statement on its Web site describes the company as a vendor of “products (that) enable PC & peripherals manufacturers, Internet Service Providers and Software program Vendors with large technical assistance centers to improve end-user experience and service quality while substantially reducing call-center costs.” Hewlett-Packard, Cisco-Linksys and Canon are all Gteko customers, the company’s site says. Gteko’s specialty is “e-support.” With three major new products about to debut – Vista,
Office 2007 and Exchange Server 2007 – all about to debut, Microsoft definitely could benefit from shoring up its product-support ranks. But Gteko also owns something else, according to the company site, from which Microsoft may perhaps benefit: Diagnostic and fix tools.Microsoft has been building a bunch of its own diagnostic and fix tools for both internal and external use. Gteko has a couple of tools of its own to bring to the table, according to the company’s site. In Gteko’s tool chest: A diagnostic engine “which may be downloaded to the customer;s computer as a small ActiveX control”; a network-device configurator; an installation package that “creates seamless,
Office 2007 Key, silent driver installation packages for customers; computers”; and various tutorials.Stay tuned for more details as they become available.