Dell to Acquire SAAS Integrator Boomi

As CEO and founder Michael Dell had hinted earlier in the day at a conference in Hong Kong, Dell made a cloud computing acquisition on Nov. 2. Only it wasn't the one many people expected at this time.

The Round Rock, Texas-based computer and server maker added a key ingredient to its cloud strategy when it announced it will acquire software-as-a-service (SAAS) integrator Boomi.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Earlier in the day, Wall Street speculation had focused on Dell's possible acquisition of Web hosting and services provider Rackspace, causing Rackspace's stock to rise $1.69, or more than 6 percent, to $27.

The Boomi news didn't help Dell's stock right away, though; shares were flat at $14.72 at 1 p.m. EDT Nov. 2.

Boomi, not a well-known IT company by any means, makes a SAAS application integration platform called AtomSphere that enables easy transfer of data between cloud-based and on-premises applications-with no appliances, no software and no coding required.

Boomi is headquartered in Berwyn, Pa. Its platform is used by Salesforce CRM along with large enterprises in verticals such as marketing, financial, human resources, content management and service-desk management.

Boomi manages millions of transactions a month and has completed tens of thousands of cloud integrations for hundreds of global customers.

"This was a fantastic outcome for the team, our customers and partners," said Boomi President and CEO Bob Moul. "Dell gives us the global platform to continue to scale Boomi AtomSphere."

No secrets about Dell strategy

Dell has made no secret of the fact that its strategy for the next few years is to invest in hardware, software and services for new-generation data centers that will contain private cloud computing systems. The company is doing this through a combination of acquisitions and partnerships.

For example, in July 2010, Dell acquired data center automation specialist Scalent Systems to add a much-needed control element to its catalog.

In February 2010, Dell acquired application virtualization software maker KACE to improve overall performance of these new systems.

In April, Dell struck a deal with enterprise management software maker Egenera to make available that company's PAN Manager 6.0, an open-standards, cross-platform control center for converged infrastructures. It remains to be seen whether Dell also will want to acquire Egenera.