EMC's Akimbi Systems Acquisition Makes Good Business Sense (EMC)

Congratulations to Akimbi Systems, who was acquired by EMC (EMC) yesterday. I profiled Akimbi late last year, at a time when few if anyone were blogging about them. At the time, I noted:

Akimbi is still an early stage company, but they're making headway and several public companies in the systems management and QA testing space have [or should be] taking notice. I can think of a number of companies that would do well to consider a partnership with Akimbi at a minimum. Another issue to consider is how proprietary their solution is [clearly they are a first mover, but the length of their lead in this space is something I'm less confident in declaring]. Will the VM players [i.e., EMC via VMWare, Microsoft, Open Sourcers via Xen] extend their solutions in this direction? Time will tell, but Akimbi is helping shape what could be an important evolution of the software design and testing process.

Ultimately VMWare must have decided a) it was worth moving in this direction and b) buying made more sense than trying to build out the functionality. Frankly, I think virtual capture and restore solution that Akimbi offers has broad applicability across the testing and application management market; yet EMC didn't have to break the bank as they have for so many other acquisitions in recent years.

The Akimbi acquisition makes a ton of sense for EMC given its synergies with VMWare. Since profiling the company, I've had a few brief interactions with CEO James Phillips and been impressed with his attention to detail and positive outlook. For EMC's sake, I hope Phillips stays aboard and plays an active role in the VMWare side of the business.

One final note: Dan Farber has an interesting take on EMC's M&A binge (29 companies, nearly $5 billion, in the last three years).

Note: At the time of this writing I, and/or funds I maintain discretionary control over, did not maintain a position (long or short) in EMC.