BMC To Acquire Tideway

BMC Software has entered into an agreement to acquire privately held Tideway Systems Ltd., a leading supplier of data center infrastructure mapping software, called Tideway Foundation. BMC expects to complete the deal within the week. No purchase price was disclosed.

BMC offers the Atrium configuration management database, which logs the precise configuration of each hardware and software asset in a data center, along with any changes to them. Tideway had already integrated its Foundation product with BMC's Atrium. Tideway is a long-term business partner of BMC's.

By mapping the infrastructure to a configuration management database, the inter dependencies of the data center can be discovered and maintained. Business processes and business services often depend on a mix of underlying systems to do their work.

Tideway brings to BMC a library of predefined IT configuration patterns that will be instrumental in deciding what works with what, said Dev Ittycheria, president of Enterprise Service Management at BMC.

Tideway Foundation's functions will be combined with Atrium Discovery and Dependency Mapping product, to allow BMC customers to both map changes and model proposed changes, discovering what dependencies might be affected before implementation.

Ittycheria said that Tideway "adds the industry's leading application discovery and dependency mapping capabilities to manage and maintain complex data center environments." The mapping can cover mainframe, Unix, and x86 environments and both physical and virtual machines.

Existing Tideway customers include Avis, Carphone Warehouse, Dresdner Kleinwort, ING, Linklaters, Mizuho Bank,prem and Wachovia.

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