The rumors were right: Microsoft buys management vendor Opalis

At the end of October, there were reports Microsoft quietly had purchased system-management vendor Opalis. After close to two months of no comments, Microsoft officials said on December 11 that Microsoft has purchased Toronto-based Opalis for an undisclosed amount. (The October rumors had the purchase price at about $60 million.)

Opalis is a privately held workflow automation vendor that automates IT processes within datacenters. Opalis' current customers include Chico's, Dow Chemical, Xerox and Kawasaki. Microsoft is planning to add Opalis' products to its own System Center family of management products, according to company officials.

From a December 11 post on Microsoft's System Center team blog by Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson:

"So why is IT process automation so important to us? We know that as customers and service providers use Microsoft server infrastructure, tools and applications in more - and larger - datacenters, these customers require a greater level of automation in their operations. This is especially important as our customers build out highly automated and scalable virtual environments. Advanced workflow processes will be vital for optimization and to avoid potential virtual server sprawl."

Opalis will continue to provide service and support for its customers during the transition to becoming a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Meanwhile, according to Anderson:

"For Microsoft customers this acquisition provides access to a new set of capabilities to help you automate your processes and tasks in your datacenter environment. Our virtualization stack just became more complete with the capabilities of Opalis."