Microsoft on Monday said it had acquired Engyro Corp., a privately held developer of software tools designed to connect business applications from a range of vendors.

Speaking Monday at Microsoft's Tech Ed conference in Orlando, Microsoft senior vice president Bob Muglia said the deal will bolster the company's ability to offer products that help users assemble IT architectures consisting of mixed technologies.

"It will increase our management interoperability," said Muglia.

Cincinnati-based Engyro's products include components that allow users to connect applications built by a range of developers, including Hewlett-Packard, EMC, IBM and Microsoft.

Microsoft said it would continue to provide support for Engyro's existing customers. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Last month, Microsoft acquired aQuantive, a developer of Web-based advertising solutions, for $6 billion.

Though considerably smaller, the Engyro deal indicates that Microsoft's acquisition fund isn't solely dedicated to buying businesses that will help the company fend off Google and Yahoo in the online advertising and search markets.