Opsware Inc., a systems and software management vendor, said Tuesday it has agreed to acquire IConclude Co. in a cash and stock deal.

Sunnyvale, Calif.-based, Opsware paid $30 million in cash, plus 3.39 million shares, for the Bellevue, Wash.-based, IConclude, which sells software for automating IT operations. Opsware's stock opened on Tuesday at $7.10 a share.

Opsware sells software that automates IT operations across servers, software and networks. The company's products automate such tasks as discovering, provisioning, patching, reporting, configuring and recovering of servers, software, business applications and network devices.

IConclude software is used to automate IT infrastructure and fix data center problems. It uses a graphical user interface to build process maps that orchestrate the interaction between tasks, users and systems. The software integrates with ticketing, asset management, source control, monitoring and other operations software used in IT departments. Such systems management software include BMC Remedy, Hewlett-Packard's Openview, and IBM Tivoli.

The acquisition is expected to extend Opsware's capabilities in data center automation, without requiring customers to change the systems they have. "Not only does iConclude's software make it easier for customers to automate with the existing Opsware suite, [but] it also orchestrates all of the other IT management tools they use, providing an unprecedented degree of efficiency and control," Ben Horowitz, president and chief executive of Opsware, said in a statement.

In addition, IConclude adds capabilities for checking and monitoring compliance with IT processes that are standardized by the Information Technology Infrastructure Library. Today, IT departments have to buy separate products to monitor ITIL compliance, Opsware said. The ITIL is a standardized approach to IT service management.