Happier Endings; Here's a well-worn story line: A category leader (RSA Security) sees a hot product segment and acquires a startup in the field.

Here's a well-worn story line: A category leader (RSA Security) sees a hot product segment (identity and access management) and acquires a startup in the field (Securant Technologies, which RSA bought in September 2001).

Then what? Sometimes the product dies like a neglected houseplant. In this case, while it took RSA a few unsteady months to tend to its new possession, customers say they're satisfied that Securant's Web access management software, ClearTrust, is in safe hands.

Technical support for ClearTrust "did go downhill" right after the acquisition, says Paul J. Martinello, director of Web services and systems development at Credit Union Central of Ontario. But …