Microsoft buys data center software firm Opalis

From CNET News.com: Microsoft said Friday that it has acquired Toronto-based Opalis Software, a maker of data center management software.

The company did not disclose financial details of the transaction, but said that the move will augment its System Center line of management software. Opalis' products already plug in to System Center, as well as other companies' management software. Over time, Microsoft plans to add some of Opalis' software into System Center itself.

"I believe this acquisition is a pivotal piece to deliver on our dynamic data center initiative," Microsoft vice president Brad Anderson said in a blog posting. "This deal brings together the deep data center automation expertise of Opalis with the integrated physical and virtualized data center management capabilities of Microsoft System Center."

Opalis CEO Todd DeLaughter said in a separate blog post that Microsoft shares his vision that process automation is key to the data center of the future.

"Microsoft has always impressed me with their next generation view of how systems management tools should cleanly integrate to provide an easier user experience without the baggage of complexity that all of the existing legacy systems management tools carry," DeLaughter said. "Combined with Opalis, System Center will be able to interoperate with all of those legacy tools so customers can take a 'land and migrate' approach with Microsoft versus a 'rip and replace' approach as they build out their next generation virtualized data centers."

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