VMware Beefs Up Virtualization, Cloud Tech With Two Deals

VMware this week said it is making two acquisitions in a move to boost its server virtualization and its desktop PC virtualization technologies and adding to its cloud computing platform.

VMware on Thursday said it is acquiring a variety of software and expertise from EMC's Ionix IT management business to improve the management and deployment of servers and applications in virtualized data centers.

The company said earlier this week that it also intends to acquire OEM partner RTO Software in order to improve the ability to manage user personas in virtualized desktop PC environments.

VMware is by far the leading server virtualization vendor, with a market share of over 80 percent, and is using its server virtualization technology as a base on which to build its cloud computing platform and its virtualized desktop infrastructure.

With the acquisition of the Ionix assets from EMC, VMware wants to make it easier help customers gain visibility into their virtualized infrastructures, particularly in terms of how those infrastructures are meeting compliance requirements, VMware said.

One of those assets is FastScale, which simplifies application and server stack management and optimizes deployment for physical, virtualized, and cloud infrastructures. EMC acquired FastScale in August and made it a part of its Ionix product family.

VMware is also getting Discovery Manager, which provides discovery and mapping of applications, their dependencies, and configurations with respect to their underlying infrastructure in data center environments. When used with VMware vCenter Server, it maps physical-to-virtual dependencies of the applications.

Also included is Server Configuration Manager, which collects, stores, fixes, and manages configuration settings from servers and workstations across physical and virtualized environments. It also provides automatic alerts when systems need to be changed to ensure compliance or resolve problems.

VMware is also getting Service Manager, a Web-architected solution for automating IT service management processes in enterprise organizations.

EMC is a majority stakeholder in VMware.

VMware is acquiring the Ionix assets in an all-cash transaction worth up to $200 million. The acquisition is expected to close during the second calendar quarter of 2010.

VMware also said earlier this week it will acquire RTO Software, the Alpharetta, Ga.-based developer of software that improves the performance of virtual desktops and thin clients.

The company unveiled the planned RTO acquisition in a blog post attributed to the VMware Desktop Chief Technology Office.

VMware in September said it signed an OEM agreement to use an RTO technology called Virtual Profilers with its VMware View desktop virtualization technology to separate the operating system, application, and personality components of a virtual desktop in order to modify or patch any of these components without impacting the others.

At the time, Steve Herrod, VMware CTO, said that a company using Virtual Profiles can create a separate master image of the operating system used in multiple virtual desktops and patch that master image, with the changes applied to those virtual desktops, without impacting their applications or their users' desktop personalities.

VMware plans to integrate RTO technologies, including Virtual Profilers, into its VMware View virtual desktop solution, with that integration targeted to be complete in mid-2010.