IBM to acquire Transitive
IBMhas agreed to acquire Transitive Corp., a developer of cross-platform virtualization solutions. Transitive has raised over $37 million in VC funding since 2000, from firms like Crescendo Venture Management and Meritech Capital Partners. Transitive is a provider of cross-platform virtualization and a pioneer in developing technologies that allow applications written for one type of microprocessor and operating system to run on multiple platforms — with little or no modification. As a result, the technology will enable customers to consolidate their Linux-based applications onto the IBM systems that make the most sense for their business needs. Transitive’s breakthrough technology has earned the company 48 worldwide patents and numerous industry awards. This acquisition is part of IBM’s strategy to help clients optimize the efficiency and productivity of their computing infrastructure and improve the utilization of the servers that run them.
Announcement Date: November 19, 2008
Deal Value: Undisclosed
VMware acquires Trango Virtual Processors
Hidden in a press release is the unannounced acquisition by VMware Inc., provider of virtualization solutions from the desktop to the datacenter, of Trango Virtual Processors, French provider of embedded processor virtualization IP. With 2007 revenues of $1.3 billion, more than 120,000 customers and more than 20,000 partners, VMware is one of the fastest growing public software companies. VMware announced it has brought virtualization to mobile phones via its new VMware Mobile Virtualization Platform (MVP), which is built on a technology it acquired from Trango Virtual Processors in October 2008.
Announcement Date: November 10, 2008
Deal Value: Undisclosed
Intel selling half its stake in VMware
Intel said that it is selling half of its 9.5 million shares of VMware, a developer of datacenter virtualization software. Intel disclosed in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) that it sold 1 million shares recently and plans to sell an additional 3.75 million on the open market. Intel, which acquired the shares in July 2007, did not offer a specific reason for the sale.
Announcement Date: November 4, 2008
Deal Value: Undisclosed
RackSpace acquires Jungle Disk and Slicehost
Web hosting provider RackSpace is acquiring two firms, Jungle Disk and Slicehost. According to RackSpace, it is acquiring Slicehost for its virtual server hosting services, and Jungle Disk for its cloud storage products. Rackspace announced the win as part of a new cloud hosting strategy. Rackspace says that it intends to integrate the capabilities of the two firms into its complete hosting portfolio.
Announcement Date: October 22, 2008
Deal Value: Undisclosed
Hewlett-Packard to buy LeftHand Networks
Computer maker Hewlett-Packard Co. has agreed to buy LeftHand Networks Inc., a provider of storage virtualization. LeftHand Networks’ solutions enable midsize companies and remote offices or branches of large corporations to easily and cost-effectively protect critical business data. The company has more than 11,000 installations across 3,000 different customers. A pioneer of iSCSI SAN technology, LeftHand Networks’ portfolio extends HP virtualization solutions to the midmarket with software that runs on both existing storage and industry-standard server hardware, reducing training time and overall complexity. As a result, companies can move to a SAN for significantly lower cost, manage their data more easily, and scale their storage infrastructures incrementally as their businesses grow. Additionally, for certain virtualized environments, LeftHand Networks’ intelligent cloning technology can reduce the amount of disk space required for storage by up to 97 percent, while its thin provisioning features reduce power consumption by minimizing the over-provisioning of storage.
Announcement Date: October 1, 2008
Deal Value: $360 Million (Cash)