HP Pads ‘Adaptive’ Strategy with Acquisition

Hewlett-Packard Friday said it is adding to its “Adaptive Enterprise” portfolio with the acquisition of select assets from UK-based Baltimore Technologies .

The all-cash transaction includes substantially all of the SelectAccess software technology from Baltimore, which also makes UniCERT (a PKI system for authentication and digital signatures) and OmniRoot (for SSL server certificates). The company also offers wireless security software; as well secure desktop and messaging applications. Baltimore’s services include consulting, integration, maintenance, and training. The company’s clientele span several sectors including telecommunications, health care, and financial services.

The transaction is expected to close during HP’s fiscal year fourth quarter, ending Oct. 31, 2003. Baltimore’s shareholder’s as well as government regulators still have to give their thumbs-up to the acquisition.

After the ink is dry on the deal, HP said the identity management technologies in SelectAccess will become part of its Adaptive Management software portfolio. The goal is to offer more secure user access to network services and enterprise resources.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based computer and printer maker is one of several companies looking to help companies and chief information officers get the IT infrastructure they need at flexible prices and provisioning. IBM, Sun Microsystems, Microsoft, Computer Associates and Veritas have all pledged allegiance to similar strategies, which industry experts say will usher in a new era of competitive computing.

HP brands their version “Adaptive Enterprise,” which bundles together its software and hardware to offer services, including business agility metrics, new virtualization software for automated resource utilization and new self-healing software for HP OpenView that address technical issues before machines go down.