VMware Could Expand Cloud Platform With Acquisitions: Report

VMware, which made two acquisitions in the last five months, could be on the hunt for more companies to purchase as it builds up its platform-as-a-service and cloud application business, according to a new report by analyst firm The 451 Group.

The 451 Group, in a recent report, said that virtualization leader VMware could be in the market for developers of technology for high-performance computing, open source integration, and application development, as well as actual applications.

The company in August bought SpringSource, a developer of applications based on open-source technologies and a leader in such open-source communities as the enterprise Java programming model Spring Framework, the Apache Tomcat Java application server environment, and the Groovy and Grails dynamic language and Web application framework.

It followed in January with the acquisition of Zimbra from Yahoo, a move that gives it a strong, cloud-based, open-source collaboration suite. Zimbra is the developer of the open-source Zimbra Collaboration Suite, which includes applications to coordinate, manage, and share e-mails from multiple vendors, including Microsoft's Outlook, in a single interface; perform group scheduling; and handle desktop and mobile device synchronization.

Both Zimbra and SpringSource have their own extensive acquisition histories.

In the high-performance computing market, The 451 Group wrote VMware might be interested in acquisitions that could boost the performance of applications built using SpringSource technologies. The most likely candidate would be Terracotta, a San Francisco-based developer of open source and commercial products for Java application performance and availability, the analyst firm wrote.

On the integration side, The 451 Group wrote that in the past it called for SpringSource to offer MuleSoft, a San Francisco-based developer of enterprise-class software, support, and services for the popular open source application infrastructure products Mule ESB and Apache Tomcat.

However, The 451 Group wrote, because of widening differences between how SpringSource and MuleSoft approach the market, the analyst firm now expects VMware to consider acquiring SOPERA, a Bonn, Germany-based developer of a platform for service-oriented integration projects.

For application development, The 451 Group said VMware could consider acquiring Skyway Software, a Tampa, Fla.-based developer of open-source, model-centric JEE application development and deployment tools for delivering RIAs (rich Internet applications) and Web Services to the Spring Framework. The analyst firm said Skyway would complement VMware's building of a platform-as-a-service offering.

In terms of applications, The 451 Group said VMware could consider Chordiant Software, a Cupertino, Calif.-based developer of software that helps companies manage customer relationships.

VMware declined to comment on the report.