HP To Buy Two Data-Center Automation FirmsHP To Buy Two Data-Center Automation Firms

Hewlett-Packard took another step in its attempt to build a comprehensive IT automation platform Wednesday when it revealed plans to acquire Novadigm Inc. and Consera Software.

The acquisitions, which are expected to close within a few months, are the latest in a series of moves by HP aimed at accelerating its Adaptive Enterprise strategy and creating unified management of enterprise IT environments through the use of its OpenView software portfolio.

"Management software is the next big frontier for IT," Nora Denzel, senior VP for HP's Adaptive Enterprise, said in a statement. "Together [Novadigm and Consera] put repetitive, error-prone IT management tasks on cruise control and free up IT time to focus on innovation."

Novadigm, based in Mahwah, N.J., provides software to automate change and configuration management. Consera, based in Bellevue, Wash., provides service-modeling software for designing a standardized IT environment that automatically adapts to changing business demands.

Under terms of the agreement, HP will pay $6.10 per share of outstanding common stock of Novadigm. Terms of the Consera acquisition were not released.

Upon completion of the acquisitions, the Novadigm and Consera products will be available through OpenView software channels.

The two acquisitions follows similar moves made by HP to acquire Trading Blocks for Web-services management and Baltimore Technologies' Select Access business for identity management in September. In November, HP acquired Persist Technologies for information life-cycle management.