VMware Acquires Shavlik Technologies for SaaS IT Management

VMware has announced the acquisition of Shavlik Technologies, with the intention of using the company’s cloud-based IT management solution to improve its SMB play. It’s not a huge surprise — the two companies have been working together for some time on virtualization for small and midsize businesses. And now it looks like VMware and Shavlik are ready to make the marriage official.

Financial terms of the deal weren’t disclosed, but VMware said in its press release that the deal is final and the two companies are hoping to close it by the end of the current quarter. And while Shavlik offers both on-premises and cloud-based management solutions, VMware is indicating it’s only planning on developing the latter.

The Shavlik solution portfolio includes tools to manage endpoints and other IT infrastructure from a single administrator pane, automate core functions, and simplify deployments and configurations. A blog entry by founder Mark Shavlik noted Shavlik Technologies will continue to support existing customers going forward, even under the new ownership.

VMware’s previous solution, VMware GO, helped SMBs dip their toes into virtualization by way of vSphere, and it sounds like the company plans to continue focusing on developing that. But more than that, with this move, VMware intends to specifically address the needs of MSPs and VARs to offer their customers RMM and automation services by way of the cloud.

VMware GO boasts “200,000 registered users creating more than 20,000 VMware Hypervisors and 120,000 Virtual machines,” according to Shavlik. It’s going to be interesting to see if that buzz translates into RMM success for VMware and its partners.

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