HP Extends Software Reach With Bristol AcquisitionHP Extends Software Reach With Bristol Acquisition

Hewlett-Packard is expanding its presence in the software market, announcing Monday that it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Bristol Technology Inc.

Bristol, headquartered in Danbury, Conn., is focused on technologies designed to monitor complex business transactions within an organization, such as insurance claim processes, product orders, and inventory management. The software is developed to work across both heterogeneous and distributed IT environments.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

This latest buy is intended to complement HP's recent acquisition of Mercury, which enables end-to-end management of real-time business transactions.

"For the first time, customers will have a single software vendor that enables them to manage end-to-end business transactions, beginning with end users all the way through custom applications and mainframe environments," said Deborah Traub, an HP VP, in a written statement. "The acquisition of Bristol Technology extends our business service management solution and BTO offerings by helping customers better manage the performance, availability and impact of these business processes."

Stuart Williams, a senior analyst with Technology Business Research, said the Bristol acquisition fits in with HP's strong move into the software arena.

"With the acquisition, details on how HP will achieve its strategy become more clear," Williams said in a statement. "While the company clearly possesses tools to monitor and manage the performance and hardware and software, the Mercury acquisition opened the door for HP to tie business processes monitoring to base-level IT operational efficiencies. The addition of Bristol technology pushes business process monitoring and management out of the IT function and into the hands of end-users."

Bristol Technology is a private company that primarily serves customers in the financial services and insurance industries in the United States and the United Kingdom.

The acquisition is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to be completed within 30 days. Following completion, the business will be integrated into the HP Software unit, which is part of HP's Technology Solutions Group.