Hewlett-Packard Co. became the latest big technology vendor to plunk down cash for identity management technology on Wednesday.
HP announced plans to buy Trustgenix Inc., of Santa Clara, Calif., for an undisclosed sum.
The deal will add Trustgenixs federated identity management software to HPs OpenView systems management platform.
The announcement was evidence of more change at HP, coming just ahead of news Thursday that the companys software chief, Nora Denzel, is stepping aside.
Trustgenix makes IdentityBridge, identity management software that unites different federated identity management technologies, such as SAML (Security Assertion Markup Language), standards from the Liberty Alliance and WS-Federation or proprietary SSO (single sign-on) technology.
Federated identity is a way of managing user identity information, such as user names and passwords, between different applications or networks.
IdentityBridge is sold as an “out of the box” federated identity server that allows customers to exchange identity information with third parties, regardless of the federated identity framework they are using.
HP will integrate Trustgenixs software into OpenView.
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The companys technology will allow OpenView customers to use federation to extend the reach of the systems management platform to systems operated by business partners, HP said in a statement.
Identity management companies have been popular targets for acquisition in recent months.
Most recently, on Nov. 16, Oracle Corp. announced it was buying Thor Technologies, a provider of user provisioning and identity and access management technologies.
In March, the company announced plans to buy Oblix to acquire identity management technology for Web applications.
After long maintaining that it was happy to partner with companies to expand the reach of OpenView, which is a leading systems management platform, HP has begun using its deep pockets to snap up technologies that enhance OpenView.
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In September, HP said it was buying Peregrine Systems for $425 million and AppIQ, which makes SAN (storage area network) and SRM (storage resource management) technology.
HP said it plans to integrate AppIQ and Peregrines software with OpenView.
In addition to its more aggressive acquisition strategy, the company also continues to shake up its management in the wake of former CEO Carly Fiorinas departure in February.
Denzel, who submitted her resignation Monday, was senior vice president and general manager of HPs Software Global Business Unit.
She had been with HP for five years and was close to Fiorina.
Todd DeLaughter, general manager of the OpenView unit, was tapped to be an interim head of the SGBU until a replacement is named, according to a statement from HP.
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