Enterprise Cloud Computing Track at Cloud Expo

VMware is buying $200 million worth of management software off its majority owner EMC. The widgetry currently resides in EMC's Ionix unit and is good for deploying and managing servers and applications in virtualized data centers - and from there to the private cloud. VMware will use the stuff to enhance vCenter to meet compliance standards in a dynamic virtualized environment.

It's paying cash and expects the deal to close next quarter. It's not supposed to make a difference to anybody's numbers.

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VMware is picking up all the technology and IP of FastScale, Application Discovery Manager, Server Configuration Manager and Service Manager software and says it will maintain the existing engineering, marketing, sales and support operations in the U.S., Europe, Israel, India and Australia.

The capability it's getting is supposed to provide a holistic view of the configuration compliance of complete IT services from underlying physical assets to applications. And it plans to optimize the acquired products for dynamic VMware vSphere-based cloud infrastructure to deliver what it calls "unparalleled visibility, control and simplicity of enterprise IT management."

Presumably the purchase will give VMware a competitive advantage against Microsoft and help it ward off incursions by CA's Unicenter, HP's OpenView and IBM's Tivoli.

EMC will keep the Ionix brand and get rights to resell the widgetry it's parting with. It paid $260 million for Ionix, or what was then System Management Arts, six years ago.

In a canned statement Pat Gelsinger, head of EMC's information infrastructure products, remarked that "The storage and network infrastructure is a critical building block for realizing the benefits of a private cloud. EMC will continue to focus on ground-breaking Ionix management capabilities for the information infrastructure - including network, storage and Vblock solutions. By focusing EMC efforts on these areas and partnering with VMware to advance their vCenter management strategy, we can jointly help our mutual customers more rapidly realize the full benefits of cloud computing."