VMWare Sees Clouds With 2 Buys

NEW YORK, (TheStreet) - VMWare(VMW) beefed up its so-called cloud computing attack with two acquisitions Tuesday.

The virtual computing shop says it will buy Integrien, a network analysis business, and TriCipher a security software developer. No terms were disclosed, and VMWare expects to close the deals in the next month.

The pickups, while immaterial to VMWare's finances, come as the cloud computing movement gains momentum. Tighter fisted businesses are considering virtual computing and cloud storage as cheaper alternatives to buying more hardware.

The trend has trim costs has triggered at least one takeover bidding war as industry players look for a quick entry into this relatively new arena.

Hewlett-Packard's(HPQ) interest in storage shop 3Par(PAR) is considered an attempt to acquire some of the next generation technologies that threaten to undercut HP's own hardware business. Similarly, Dell's(DELL) bid for 3Par has all the looks of a PC giant looking for a new growth market to help offset its shrinking computer margins.

VMWare made its acquisition announcement Tuesday during its VMWorld conference in San Francisco, where the company also unveiled several new offerings in cloud computing.

VMWare promises to bridge the stacks of company servers in the IT room with systems in other locations through software and network management tools. Using fast network connections, computing and storage can be allocated to areas with more capacity, either inside the company or outside.

"Customers are increasingly looking for ways to take advantage of the flexibility and new services in the public cloud and want to extend the security and control of their private clouds to this new environment," said VMWare cloud services chief Brian Byun in a press release.

VMWare has been one of the stronger performers in tech over the past year. The stock is up 120% over the past 12 months.

--Written by Scott Moritz in New York.

>To contact the writer of this article, click here: Scott Moritz.

>To follow the writer on Twitter, go to http://twitter.com/TheStreet_Tech.

>To submit a news tip, send an email to: [e-mail].

>To order reprints of this article, click here: Reprints