EMC Corporation agreed to acquire Vmware, Palo Alto, California-based start-up developing Intel virtualization software, for approximately $635 million in cash. VMware's technology enables multiple operating systems -- including Microsoft Windows, Linux and NetWare -- to run simultaneously and independently on the same Intel-based server or workstation and dynamically move live applications across systems. EMC plans to use the technology to help its customers create a single pool of available storage and computing resources across a heterogeneous infrastructure.
Joe Tucci, EMC President and CEO, said "until now, server and storage virtualization have existed as disparate entities. Today, EMC is accelerating the convergence of these two worlds."http://www.emc.com/http://www.vmware.com/
- Vmware was founded in 1998 and has strategic financing from an investment group headed by Dell Computer Corp. In addition to Dell, this investment group included VERITAS Software, Azure Capital Partners, JPMorgan Partners, and Goldman Sachs Group. Vmware claims some 5,000 corporate customers for its virtualization products.
