Deal Roundup: IBM, Dell, HP, Google, Amazon

IBM to acquire BigFix.  IBM announced it has entered into an agreement to acquire BigFix, Inc., a privately-held company based in Emeryville, California.  The acquisition will extend security and compliance in the enterprise for IBM to provide updates globally to thousands of laptops, PCs and servers in the data center. "BigFix automates some of the most time-intensive IT tasks across the most complex global networks, helping save organizations significant amounts of time, labor, and expense," said Al Zollar, general manager, IBM Tivoli software. "BigFix's real-time visibility and control for globally distributed computing devices will complement IBM's existing smarter data center offerings and strengthen our ability to build security into the fabric of the enterprise."  In a single view BigFix software can manage security configuration and vulnerability management, real-time reporting of compliance status and new software deployments, and power consumption management. BigFix will be integrated into IBM Software Group and the deal is expected to close the the third quarter of 2010.

Dell to acquire Scalent.  Dell announced it has signed an agreement to acquire Scalent, a private company that provides software that makes data center infrastructure dynamic, easily scalable and highly efficient.  “Scalent provides a critical building block for our Virtual Integrated System, the most open, capable and affordable converged infrastructure solution available,” said Brad Anderson, Dell senior vice president, Enterprise Product Group.  In 2009 Scalent received Patent No. 7,574,491for "a system and method for implementing a virtual data center." Dell will integrate Scalent technology into its Advanced Infrastructure Manager (AIM) solution. The acquisition is expected to be completed in their second fiscal quarter.

Google acquires ITA.  Google announced they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire ITA Software, a flight information software company for $700 million in cash.  The deal will allow Google to pursue the creation of new flight search tools that will enable users to find better flight information more easily on the Internet.

Amazon acquires Woot.  Amazon has signed an agreement to acquire Woot!, an online retailer whose main website has a single discounted product each day.  Although the acquisition price was not disclosed, TechCrunch reports that Amazon paid $110 million in cash.  In typical Woot! fashion, their CEO explains the acquisition, and the employees respond with a rapping monkey puppet video on their blog.

HP announced it has completed it's acquisition of Palm Inc. at a price of $5.70 per share of Palm common stock in cash. Under HP, Palm will be responsible for webOS software development and webOS based hardware products.