CA picks up Cassatt assets; Bolsters cloud portfolio

CA said Tuesday that it has acquired the key assets from Cassatt, which makes software that automates data centes. Cassatt had been a hot start-up based in San Jose, but recently collapsed.  

In a statement, CA said the deal will allow it to bolster its cloud computing offering and automation tools. CA also acquired Cassatt's pending patents and applications as well as other intellectual property. Terms of the deal weren't disclosed. 

CA said that Cassatt's Rob Gingell, CTO, and Steve Oberlin, chief scientist and founder, will join the company as will developers, engineers and other key employees. Cassatt's big pitch was to help customers implement cloud computing architecture internally. That pitch was replicated by big data center players. 

The deal makes sense on a few levels. For starters, Cassatt's software looked good on paper, but had trouble penetrating the data center. Larger vendors such as CA, BMC, HP, which bought Opsware, and IBM have the data center locked down in many respects. And despite the talk of cloud computing few data centers have taken the plunge. 

In a Forbes article, Cassatt chief Bill Coleman, best known for starting BEA Systems, said his company was on the verge of collapse. Cassatt had raised almost $100 million in venture funding.