EMC Acquires Storage, Cloud Automation Software Developer iWave

An EMC spokesperson confirmed the acquisition, noting that it is not uncommon for EMC to make a small acquisition and not formally announce it.

iWave, however, was a bit less quiet. The company on Friday replaced the homepage of its website with an open letter from CEO Brent Rhymes, who wrote that iWave has "successfully collaborated with EMC Corporation for years."

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Rhymes wrote that iWave in 2012 established itself as an early storage automation market leader in large part because of its EMC partnership. "Now, as part of EMC, iWave is poised for some truly exciting and exponential growth in what is becoming one of the hottest storage software capabilities," he wrote.

Rhymes, however, did not mention other companies who partner with iWave, including EMC arch rivals NetApp and Dell.

iWave Software brings two primary product lines to EMC.

Its primary product is iWave IT Automator, an enterprise solution for process automation and orchestration in heterogeneous private cloud, private storage cloud and data center environments.

iWave Software on its website called iWave IT Automator a "secure, scalable and cost-effective solution for some of today's most complex IT administrative challenges," including server provisioning and enterprise sprawl, private cloud administration, storage provisioning and reclamation, event response and fault remediation, IT service management integration, and resource allocation.

The second product, iWave Transport Manager, provides consistent and business-driven change, configuration and release management as well as enforceable Sarbanes-Oxley compliance in SAP environments, iWave said on its website.

In an emailed response to CRN, an EMC spokesperson said EMC acquired iWave Software primarily for its iWave's Storage Automator and cloud technologies, which EMC expects will further strengthen its storage management portfolio and help its customers accelerate their journey to the public, private and hybrid cloud.

EMC will absorb iWave employees into its EMC Advanced Storage Division (ASD) organization, with Rhymes reporting to Jay Mastaj, senior vice president and chief operating officer of that organization.

EMC is dedicated to taking care of iWave's customers and keeping them whole after the acquisition, and is finalizing the plan to integrate iWave's products into EMC's product portfolio, the spokesperson said. The spokesperson did not directly address the question of how EMC will manage iWave's relationships with competing storage vendors, but said EMC will work to ensure that as many existing iWave partner relationships remain as mutually beneficial as possible.

The spokesperson said EMC is not disclosing the value of the acquisition, which actually closed on Dec. 27, but said it will not have a material impact on the company's GAAP or non-GAAP earnings for fiscal 2012.

PUBLISHED JAN. 4, 2013

This story was updated on Jan. 4, 2013, at 12:30 p.m. PST, to include comments made by an EMC spokesperson after press time.