VMware Rounds Out Cloud Offerings With Security, Analytics Acquisitions

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Seeking to round out its offerings in preparation for what it describes as the “third phase” of virtualization — IT as a service — VMware on Tuesday announced that it would acquire IT analytics firm Integrien and online access management and security firm TriCipher.

Financial terms of the deals were not disclosed.

VMware (NYSE: VMW) CTO and Senior Vice President of R&D, Steve Herrod, announced the acquisitions during his keynote speech at the VMworld conference taking place in San Francisco. Herrod said the new technologies would expand VMware’s vCenter management portfolio and enable more efficient provisioning of Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) applications for end-user computing.

Integrien brings with it a patented real-time performance analytics solution that transforms data from existing management tools into actionable intelligence. VMware said the addition of Integrien’s capabilities to vCenter products will enable VMware customers to achieve the level of automation and control required for virtualized and cloud infrastructures.

“VMware has led the transformation of IT infrastructure, significantly reducing complexity through virtualization,” Integrien President and CEO Dale Quayle said. “As such, VMware is the company best equipped to redefine the IT management discipline for this new world. We are very excited to join VMware and align around a management vision that can deliver value for both our customers and employees.”

Meanwhile, VMware said TriCipher brings it technologies for identity federation, SaaS authentication and access management that are becoming increasingly important as customers evolve to a hybrid cloud composed of customer-owned and SaaS applications and internal and external infrastructure clouds.

VMware said TriCipher’s capabilities will support multiple initiatives, including identity-based security, integration of hybrid clouds and managed access to SaaS applications from any device, where and when a user needs it.

“Customers are increasingly looking for ways to take advantage of the flexibility and new services in the public cloud and want to extend the security and control of their private clouds to this new environment,” Brian Byun, vice president and general manager for cloud services and applications at VMware said in a statement. “TriCipher brings to VMware important authentication and identity technologies that will accelerate our delivery of new solutions for hybrid cloud integration and end user computing.”

VMware said it expects both acquisitions to close in the third calendar quarter of 2010.

The company, an early mover in enterprise virtualization, has been busy positioning itself to next become a major player in cloud infrastructure. In July, VMware released vSphere 4.1, virtualization management software that is the central building block of its strategy. The new version featured significant improvements in scalability and overall performance.

The vCenter family of products, unveiled exactly a year ago today, supplies infrastructure management and service delivery management tools to improve the utility of vSphere.

Thor Olavsrud is a contributor to InternetNews.com, the news service of Internet.com, the network for technology professionals.