IT infrastructure provider Novell is to acquire data centre management firm PlateSpin in a US$205m cash transaction.
The deal is expected to close during Novell’s second fiscal quarter 2008 and will see Novell expand its next-generation data centre portfolio across physical and virtual environments.
PlateSpin manages heterogeneous workloads incorporating data, applications and operating systems residing on a physical or virtual host. Its products improve the speed and quality of server consolidation, data centre relocation and disaster recovery.
Following the definitive agreement to acquire PlateSpin, the two companies will deliver unparalleled support for mixed infrastructure environments, Novell said. They will offer products for complete workload lifecycle management and optimisation for Linux, UNIX and Windows operating systems in the physical and virtual data centre.
“The PlateSpin acquisition will be a cornerstone of our two-pronged enterprise Linux and IT management software strategy,” said Ron Hovsepian, president and CEO of Novell. “With the addition of the PlateSpin product portfolio, Novell will be uniquely positioned to deliver the next-generation infrastructure software that is at the core of the data centre.
“Together, we will have the most comprehensive workload management solution which allows customers to monitor and analyse what to virtualise, provides the tools to seamlessly virtualise and unvirtualise workloads, automates the management of workloads, and offers the leading open source platform from which to run virtualised work.”
“PlateSpin’s ability to manage workloads is unparalleled and is an essential part of making the data centre truly respond to the needs of the business,” said Stephen Pollack, founder and CEO of PlateSpin. “Combined with ZENworks Orchestrator and virtualisation from Novell, we are very excited about the synergies this acquisition will give to customers.”
Following the acquisition, PlateSpin will be integrated into Novell’s systems and resource management business unit. As part of this business unit, PlateSpin will continue to develop and market its products to a global customer base. This will be done through the continued operation of PlateSpin’s Toronto facility, as well as through a combination of PlateSpin and Novell offices and facilities around the globe.
By Niall Byrne
