My Top 10 Favorite Virtualization-Related Acquisitions Wishlist

I have taken an interest in M&As, so much so that I have decided to become a vDealmaker, or maybe just a vOracle with an imaginary crystal ball. While some of these acquisitions are a bit of a stretch, they sure make sense to me:

Hitachi Data Systems acquires Brocade Communications and Citrix Systems. Tthis would be an awesome move. HDS would have to first IPO, a move they should make, regardless. Nonetheless, it would first offer the IPO and then make a few quick acquisitions. Now, for HDS to take on Citrix would not be very easy with its current market cap, but that move would be awesome. HDS makes more than just storage; they make servers as well quite a few other things. If HDS is serious about the cloud, which they are, a Citrix acquisition would give HDS a strong cloud offering immediately, among other things. At that point, HDS become much more than just a provider of technology to the cloud -- it would become a cloud operator extraordinaire. This merger would definitely challenge Cisco-EMC-VMware and in my opinion that leads to more and better innovation.

Cisco Systems acquires EMC and VMware. While this acquisition would not catch anyone off-guard since many of us have been expecting it, it is as likely a scenario as the HDS one, mainly due to market caps of both EMC and VMware. That being said, the companies have so many synergies between them that an acquisition or merger would create truly a giant, innovative and cutting-edge cloud company.

Citrix Systems goes shopping and nabs some great deals. While we patiently wait for HDS to make its move, Citrix decides to go shopping at "Best Buy" and use all its reward points to snatch:

• Dropbox Would it not be awesome if XenDesktop had integration with Dropbox? It would give users access to their Dropboxes for cloud storage. It would enhance XenDesktop to where it can be used inside an organization and outside. It would be a perfect companion, sliding up right into the same group as the GoTo products, but makes a great feature for XenDesktop.
• RES Software While Citrix has its own profile manager product, which they acquired from Sepago while back, RES Software is so much more than just profile management. The company is prime for an acquisition, excellent technology and not big "yet" Citrix. (Don't miss out, Citrix! This deal is only available through Labor Day weekend.)
• Virtual Computer This acquisition would not be surprising at all. Citrix already has an investment in Virtual Computer. An acquisition it would just enhance and reinforce what it already has been doing with XenClient.

VMware decides that maybe its done enough acquisitions in the collaboration space, so let's not bet the company against some giants in that particular space. We want to diversify just a little bit and possibly give some much-needed attention to VMware View. So, VMware also goes shopping at Best Buy (really, it's has the best deals in town), except it chose a different branch than the one Citrix went to and came back home with lots of cool toys:

• Unidesk This acquisition should just happen and give way to VMware View "Ninja Edition." Yes, the product would become that deadly cool with use cases ranging from SMBs all the way to large enterprises.
• Ericom I know this one is probably as farfetched as the HDS acquisition prediction, but if VMware is serious about desktop virtualization, then providing Remote Desktop Services to its users is definitely a gap in its portfolio. Ericom is on sale; you can even pick it up using your reward points. In fact, you get double points for this one.
• MokaFive Folks, where in the world is the client virtualization platform? One way that VMware could find CVP quickly is to purchase MokaFive. Granted, the product would not be based on the VMware kernel that is in ESXi, but so what? MokaFive is a solid product and fills a gap in the VMware portfolio. This one is valid through Labor Day, as well, with potential for an acquisition from Quest or Symantec.

I have a few more, but I would be going over my top 10. Even so, I can see a Symantec acquisition of Atlantis and an IBM acquisition of NetApp. What do you think? Comments open.

Posted by Elias Khnaser on 06/02/2011 at 12:49 PM