IT giant
Hewlett-Packard (HP) has acquired cloud computing software provider Eucalyptus, closing a two year hiatus on mergers and acquisitions. The purchase is the first HP has made since it widely published acquisition of software developer Autonomy Corporation in 2012.
The deal with Autonomy, which cost $11.7 billion, went sour after HP claims that a number of accounting irregularities took place prior to the deal. As evidence, HP pointed to an $11 million contract with the Vatican Library which it claims never actually took place. HP has wrote down more than $5 billion as a result of the deal.
Established in 2009, Goleta, California-based Eucalyptus offers solutions which allow companies to store, process and deliver computing data in the cloud. The company provides open-source software which enables users to manage data centers in a similar fashion to using Amazon APIs (which allow uncommon systems to communicate with each other).
Prior to its acquisition, Eucalyptus received investment of $55.5 million and although financial details were not released, it believed the cost to HP was less than $100 million. The acquisition is driven by HP's drive for customers establishing cloud networks. Eucalyptus' CEO Marten Mickos will join HP, taking the role of Senior Vice President and report to HP's CEO Meg Whitman. The deal will be completed around October 2014.
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