HP To Buy Peregrine Systems

Plans call for San Diego-based Peregrine to be integrated into the business unit for OpenView, HP&s distributed enterprise management software for business operations and IT. HP said the addition of Peregrine will bring such capabilities as asset tracking, expense controls, process automation, service control, service alignment, enterprise discovery and IT executive dashboard, as well as outsourcing, business continuity and consolidation management.

The Palo Alto, Calif.-based IT giant said it expects to close the Peregrine deal by first-quarter 2006. Once the transaction is finalized, Peregrine products will be available through HP OpenView software channels, and the technology will be leveraged across HP's Technology Systems Group and HP Services.

With the acquisition, HP expects to bolster its presence in the asset management software market, which the company said is projected to top $1 billion by 2008. Business IT departments' need for data on internal IT assets, integration with other IT management systems and process-based management standards like ITIL are fueling a rising demand for such software, according to HP.

"Peregrine will help HP deliver a more complete management software solution to CIOs and enhance their ability to manage their IT assets," Ann Livermore, executive vice president of HP&s Technology Solutions Group, said in a statement. "Companies constantly look for ways to lower their technology costs, from the PC to the data center. Our strategy is to enable CIOs to manage the technology environment in an efficient and cost-effective manner."

Also on Monday, HP unveiled a deal to acquire AppIQ, a Burlington, Mass.-based provider of open SAN management and storage resource management technology. Terms of the deal weren&t disclosed.