He added: "My decision to leave Progress to pursue another opportunity as the CEO of a privately held corporation in another segment of the software industry represents the fulfillment of a lifelong passion of mine and has nothing to do with my strong belief in the company's ability to continue accomplishing its strategic priorities."

Progress has also had to withdraw its revenue forecast for the fourth quarter of 2012 and said it may now 'experience some slippage' in revenue growth.

However, research director at TechMarketView, , questions whether Progress will now be able to fulfil its commitments.

She said: "His departure is unexpected given the depth of the transformation plan he devised and was in the process of executing, which included selling off many of the acquired assets that were considered non-core.

"It will leave Progress - and whoever is chosen as the replacement CEO - in a difficult position with a partially executed plan."