Hewlett-Packard is acquiring software companyOpswarefor £775m to gain a foothold
in the fast-growing datacentre automation software
market.
The takeover, which helps HP expand its portfolio of business
technology optimisation software, follows earlier purchases of
Mercury Interactive and
Peregrine Systems.
Opsware chief executive Ben Horowitz is likely to lead HP's
Business Technology Optimisation organisation and report to Thomas
Hogan, senior vice-president at HP Software.
Clive Longbottom, service director at analyst firm Quocirca,
said HP was unlikely to break-even on the deal. "I doubt the deal
will add £1bn in accretive sales. But it plugs some holes in HP's
range which it has been slow to close since it bought Mercury.
"Opsware brings some good technology, especially around
virtualisation, so it will be a good card to lead with in some
circumstances, such as
greening the datacentre," he said.
Hogan said, "The acquisition of Opsware is intended to help our
customers resolve one of their critical pain points: controlling
the increasing complexity and cost of managing the datacentre."