"Truly adaptive solutions must be capable of allocating infrastructure on a dynamic basis in response to changing patterns of utilization," said Ronni Colville, research director, Gartner, Inc. "It's increasingly important for technology to be able to take automated action based on business needs to drive policy-based reprovisioning and reconfiguration of resources across servers, databases, storage devices, network devices, application and end-users."

The acquisitions of Novadigm and Consera will add key components to the HP OpenView line:

• Novadigm provides software to automate change and configuration management. Novadigm's technology automates the standardized deployment of IT changes in a mixed environment to achieve a desired, consistent end state. It also automates configuration managements, ensuring IT resources deliver on established business policies, and that the right software is automatically in use on the right systems.
• Consera's IT service-modeling software helps users design a standardized IT environment that automatically adapts to changing business demands. The technology will allow HP OpenView users to create models that represent their business services, mapping to underlying IT components. Novadigm's automation services will then utilize these service models to automate IT changes, such as new software implementation, patches or upgrades.

"HP's move to combine Novadigm, Consera and OpenView is the next logical step in its journey towards helping enterprises become more adaptive and efficient," said Rick Sturm, president, Enterprise Management Associates, Inc. "It should give HP a significant advantage against competitors."

Under the terms of the Novadigm acquisition agreement, HP will pay $6.10 in cash for each outstanding share of Novadigm common stock. The Novadigm and Consera acquisitions are subject to the approval of each of their stockholders and various standard closing conditions. The transactions do not require approval by HP shareowners.

Upon completion of the transactions, expected during the next several months, Novadigm and Consera products will be available through HP OpenView software channels and the technology will be leveraged across HP's Technology Systems Group, Customer Solutions Group and Consulting and Integration Services. Following completion of the transactions, both the Novadigm and Consera technology and businesses will become an integral part of HP's Software Global Business Unit.