In case you missed it, NetIQ is spinning out WebTrends. I won’t speculate why – oh hell, of course I will. I thought (and still think) that WebTrends went together with NetIQ only a small amount more than Andromedia went together with Macromedia – that is to say, not very much. The two companies have different lines of business, and web analytics ended up being a side show. WebTrends and NetIQ sell to different people in the organization – simple as that.

I’ve heard rumor of a somewhat similar web analytics deal coming down soon, as the vendor sells off its analytics business to focus on a different line of products.

Consolidation, or diversification? Apparently some people think they can’t make enough in the web analytics business, while others think they can. Interesting times.