EMC Acquires IT Service Management Software Provider Infra

EMC on Monday said it has acquired privately held Infra, a provider of IT service management software. Financial details were not disclosed.

EMC, a maker of data storage technology, said the acquisition fits into its strategy of providing software to automate data center operations. Infra provides Web-based technology that can manage the life cycle of IT services.

EMC said the acquisition is not expected to have a material impact on this year's revenue or earnings.

The integration of Infra technology with EMC's infrastructure management software is expected to meet customer demand for better tools for managing virtualization and Web-based technologies in the data center. "The combination of Infra's service management and EMC's existing infrastructure management capabilities delivers practical and innovative solutions for today's IT service delivery challenges," Chris Gahagan, EMC's senior VP of resource management software, said in a statement.

Infra's software, called InfraEnterprise, includes a software service desk with incident, problem, change, configuration, release, service level, and availability management processes. In addition, the software includes a workflow engine.

The acquisition is expected to provide Infra with the financial and technology resources needed to expand its product line. The company will become a part of EMC's resource management software business unit. Andy Wade, managing director of Infra, will continue to lead the InfraEnterprise team and report directly to Gahagan.

The Infra acquisition is the second in less than a month for EMC. The company last month bought startup Pi, adding technology expected to boost EMC's effort to build an online data-hosting service that would likely compete with companies like IBM and Amazon.

Pi, which had yet to release a product, was beta-testing software and services that would help people "find, access, share, and protect" their personal digital information. The company had about 100 engineers in the United States, Canada, and India.