IBM heats up on-demand Candle

IBM plans to acquire private US firm Candle, an enterprise infrastructure management software and services provider, for an undisclosed amount.

The deal is expected to close in the second quarter.

The Candle portfolio--which spans IBM's WebSphere, DB2 and Tivoli lines, as well as its Lotus and Rational offerings--will bolster IBM's bag of tricks in its push toward on-demand computing, said Robert LeBlanc, general manager of IBM Tivoli Software.

'The Candle acquisition provides breadth and depth to IBM's portfolio of systems management,' LeBlanc said. 'It fills gaps in the portfolio and is complementary to other products, adding analysis and analytics to existing products.'

Candle brings expertise in three areas integral to the on-demand environment IBM is advocating: data centre management, optimisation of application infrastructure environments and real-time application analytics and reporting capabilities, said Andy Mullins, president and COO of Candle.

LeBlanc calls Candle's product lines 'critical pieces of the on-demand initiative'.

'This is being driven greatly by customers' needs,' he said. 'We are driving a solution that is end to end. Customers need to be able to change their infrastructures to match business process changes within an organisation.'

Those changes spell opportunity for resellers as more companies move toward on-demand computing, LeBlanc said. 'As we focus more on end-to-end [solutions], we have to partner with others who continue to fill the gaps.'

Candle's product portfolio will be integrated into the IBM Software Group, but the two companies will continue to operate separately, LeBlanc said.

No decisions have been made yet regarding a product road map or branding strategy; however, IBM intends to support Candle's customers, he said.

'We have a lot more detail work to do after [the] deal closes,' LeBlanc said.