As many of you know by now, HP announced Wednesday that it had reached an agreement with Mercury in a deal worth about $4.5 billion. News to some, but this buyout was a rumor that I've heard several times.

"After the announcement, HP CEO Mark Hurd said the move will double his company's software revenue to more than $2 billion annually, adding that the combination of the companies' product lines will make HP 'an end-to-end leader in IT management.'"

Clearly, the Mercury products will add a lot of value to HP Open View tools that focus on performance and availability of systems and IT Infrastructure. However, if you recall a few months back Mercury Interactive also has the essence of Systinet as well, a SOA directory and governance technology.

So, what did they buy what for, and for what?

Who knows as this point. However, I do know that Systinet had some damm good tools, and now HP has some damm good tools, including the legacy Mercury Interactive tech. But, it's up to HP to make sure this stuff works and plays well with their existing technology. That is easier said than done, believe me, but I wish them luck.

This continues with the great consolidation that will occur in the next year or so, as larger companies learn that it's faster to buy their way into SOA, than build their way into SOA. Not sure how I feel about that at this point. I'll let you know.

Posted by Dave Linthicum on July 27, 2006 12:30 PM