Wingra Technologies acquired by California software company

Quest Software, Inc., a publicly traded company out of Irvine, California, has bought Madison-based Wingra Technologies for an undisclosed sum.

Wingra makes e-mail related software, including programs to move data from GroupWise and Lotus environments to Microsoft Outloo, which a Quest press release said would diversify the company's holdings. Quest makes a variety of software for addressing computer performance problems, managing databases and automating tasks in Windows.

This is not the first time Wingra has changed hands since its founding in 1992. In 2000, it was acquired by Commtouch Software of Mountain View, California, for stock that was originally worth about $17 million but quickly halved in value and continued to drop as the entire technology sector suffered.

Founder Jan Eddy bought the company back a year and a half later, in 2002. Following the latest deal with Quest, Eddy will stay with the company in a management position, and she said the company's 21 employees would probably stay as well.

That number could grow along with the company, as Wingra now has access to a sales force of 400 instead of just two.