American software company VMware agreed to purchase mobile device management provider AirWatch for additional mobile technology.
Living in this generation where smartphones, tablets and other innovative devices rule, several companies are surely compelled to keep up, and VMware is one of those working hard to stay in the game.
Last year, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based company started looking for ways to sustain its business in the industry. It checked out different mobile-device management software companies and even considered creating their own.
"We clearly saw the puck was going to mobility. If we weren't in mobility, we weren't in the end-user computing infrastructure space," said VMware CEO Pat Gelsinger said to Bloomberg Businessweek.
Ever since Gelsinger took over VMware in September 2012, he led the whole company in focusing on Internet-based cloud programs, tools for managing and securing computers and devices and software substitutes for traditional networking equipments.
On Wednesday, VMware, the biggest provider of cloud and virtualization software and services that lets computers run on different operating systems, has finally closed a deal with AirWatch and agreed to pay a little more than $1.54 billion to boost management and protection of mobile devices.
In a blog post, VMware executive vice president Sanjay Poonen said, "mobile is global."
"The world needs a robust enterprise mobility platform for the post-PC world of heterogeneous devices."
Bloomberg reported that $1.18 of the total amount will be paid in cold cash while the remaining $365 million will be paid in installments and assumed unvested equity.
FBR Capital Markets analyst Daniel Ives said to Bloomberg Businessweek, "We loudly applaud this acquisition. The strategic combination of VMware's end-user computing technologies and AirWatch's secure mobility management platform under one roof will add another leg to VMware's growth stool over the coming years."
In addition to the acquisition announcement, VMware also announced that its fourth quarter profit, excluding sales from its Pivotal Software Inc. department, increased by 15 percent.
