VMware Set For Acquisition Spree?
VMware made its name in the virtualization software market. But now it's branching out into more cloud-based offerings as it builds out its Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) model. Datamation takes a closer look at some of the companies VMware may want to acquire in 2010 to make it happen.
Virtualization software maker VMware delivered stellar fourth-quarter sales and earnings this week, but analysts are already laying odds on which software companies it will acquire this year as it builds out its platform-as-a-service (PaaS) strategy.
Technology investment research firm 451 Group this week offered up a list of potential takeover candidates, including the likes of Chordiant Software (NASDAQ: CHRD), a Cupertino, Calif.-based developer of customer relationship management (CRM) applications; Terracotta, a San Francisco-based open source developer of applications that support virtualization and cloud computing; and Skyway Software, a Tampa, Fla.-based developer of an open source, Java-based development environment on the SpringSource platform.
Palo Alto, Calif.-based VMware (NYSE: VMW) recently has shown it's not averse to inorganic growth. In August, VMware acquired SpringSource, a Java Web development and middleware vendor that's central to the open source Spring Framework used and supported by numerous Java middleware vendors, including Red Hat JBoss and IBM Websphere.