IT monolith Computer Associates appears to be wanting to distance itself from its past by changing its name. During the 1990s the outsourcing giant was so big that it attracted small moons into its orbit and became a by word for large government deals.

However the outfit was extremely controversial. The US Department of Justice stopped it buying everything that moved and it faced large amounts of debt, and a proxy battle between the board and shareholders. Then there was the small matter of fat cat salaries, arguments about accounting methods, and insider-trading by its then CEO and chairman, Sanjay Kumar.

A lot of it was put back on track in the later part of the decade by new CEO, John Swainson who retired last year. However the Computer Associates had a bit of image problem, particularly in the UK where several of its high profile government computer projects tanked. Now the new bloke CEO Bill McCracken wants to change the name from Computer Associates to CA Technologies, build a new web site and make its past go away.

"The name CA Technologies acknowledges both our past and points to our future as a leader in delivering the solutions that will revolutionize the way IT powers business agility," he said. "We are executing on a bold strategy to delight our customers with unprecedented levels of IT speed and flexibility."

He also announced a new global branding program to inspire the industry to “Believe Again” in the power of technology to support business. Well that makes us all feel better.