It is that time of the year again, VMworld Europe is looming and this year unfortunately I will not be able to attend. However whilst I was clearing out my office cupboards I found my VMworld 2008 program guide, I felt a feeling of nostalgia lay over me, as this was my very first VMworld that I attended. So with a cup of tea, a comfortable chair, and a penguin biscuit, I began a reminiscing session. As I flicked though the VMworld guide with first the sessions and I eventually arriving at the Sponsors and exhibitors sections. It was while perusing this section I noticed that there was a number of vendors that have either been snapped up by bigger partners or disappeared altogether, for example both HP and EDS were sponsors of VMworld 2008 and now HP owns EDS. This got me to thinking about consolidation in the market place in general, as there have been a number of major announcements recently regarding acquisitions for example Dell have snapped up Wyse, Quest and VMware have just splashed the cash on Wanova and Nicira two companies that did not even exist in 2008 .
So without further ado, here is the low down on the status of the Sponsors and Exhibitors since 2008:
| Vendor | Owned |
| Platinum | |
| VMware | EMC – with a limited IPO |
| Cisco | No Change in Ownership |
| Dell | No Change in Ownership |
| EMC | No Change in Ownership |
| HP | No Change in Ownership |
| IBM | No Change in Ownership |
| Intel | No Change in Ownership |
| NEC | No Change in Ownership |
| NetApp | No Change in Ownership |
| Symantec | No Change in Ownership |
| Gold Sponsors | |
| AMD | No Change in Ownership |
| AppSense | No Change in Ownership |
| BMC Software | No Change in Ownership |
| Brocade | No Change in Ownership |
| Citrix | No Change in Ownership |
| DataDomain | Acquired by EMC |
| EDS | Acquired by HP now called HP Enterprise services |
| egenera | No Change in Ownership |
| Emulex | No Change in Ownership |
| Insight | No Change in Ownership |
| Kingston | No Change in Ownership |
| Microsoft | No Change in Ownership |
| Novell | No Change in Ownership – Just. |
| PHD Techologies | Re-branded as PHD Virtual |
| Platespin | Acquired by Novell |
| SunGard | Merged with Vivista |
| Sun Microsystems | Acquired by Oracle |
| Veeam | No Change in Ownership |
| Vizioncore | Acquired by Quest, who have since been acquired by Dell |
| Wyse | Acquired by Dell |
| Silver Sponsors | |
| Acronis | No Change in Ownership |
| Akorri | Acquired by NetApp |
| asigra | No Change in Ownership |
| Avocent | Acquired by Emerson Electric Co |
| CA | No Change in Ownership |
| CDW | No Change in Ownership |
| commvault | No Change in Ownership |
| CompuCom | No Change in Ownership |
| ConfigureSoft | Acquired by EMC as Ionix and now part of VMware |
| DataCore Software | No Change in Ownership |
| Embotics | No Change in Ownership |
| FalconStore | No Change in Ownership |
| Fujitsu | No Change in Ownership |
| GlassHouse | No Change in Ownership |
| GreenPages Technology Solutions | No Change in Ownership |
| Igel | No Change in Ownership |
| LeftHand | Acquired by HP |
| LeoStream | No Change in Ownership |
| McAfee | Acquired by Intel |
| Mellanox | No Change in Ownership |
| Neterion | Killed off by Exar after purchase |
| NetIQ | No Change in Ownership |
| Neverfail | No Change in Ownership |
| Parallels | No Change in Ownership |
| Pillar | Acquired by Oracle |
| Qlogic | No Change in Ownership |
| Quantum | No Change in Ownership |
| Quest Software | Acquired by Dell |
| riverbed | No Change in Ownership |
| Surgient | Acquired by Quest – Products all EOL’d |
| TeamQuest | No Change in Ownership |
| Terremark | Acquired by Verizon |
| Trace|3 | No Change in Ownership |
| tripwire | No Change in Ownership, but no longer in the Virtualization space |
| unisys | No Change in Ownership |
| Virtera | Out of Business |
| vKernel | Acquired by Quest |
| vmSight | Acquired by Liquidware labs |
| XioTech | Acquired by Seagate – Wholely owned subsidiary |
| xsigo | Acquired by Oracle |
| Exhibitors | |
| 3Leaf Systems | Defunct, failed purchase by Huawei after US Govt intervention |
| 3PAR | Acquired by HP |
| 3ware | Acquired by LSI |
| Agami Systems | Out of Business – In fact they never even made the 2008 conference |
| Altor Networks | Acquired by Juniper |
| AMAX Infomation Technologies | No Change in Ownership |
| Apani | Website is displaying the standard IIS landing page, assumed ceased trading. |
| APC | No Change in Ownership |
| Arbitech | No Change in Ownership |
| Atempo | Acquired by ASG Software Solutions |
| Azaleos | No Change in Ownership, not focused on Virtualization |
| Bay Microsystems | No Change in Ownership |
| BlueArc | Acquired by HDS |
| BlueStripe | No Change in Ownership |
| BT Global Services | No Change in Ownership |
| Canonical | No Change in Ownership |
| Catbird | No Change in Ownership |
| Certeon | No Change in Ownership |
| Checkpoint | No Change in Ownership |
| Chip PC | No Change in Ownership |
| CiRBA | No Change in Ownership |
| Compellent | Acquired by Dell |
| Coraid | No Change in Ownership |
| Desktone | No Change in Ownership |
| Double-Take | No Change in Ownership |
| DynamicOps | No Change in Ownership |
| eG Inovations | No Change in Ownership |
| Elastra | Status Unknown – Website not responding and no known contact details, assumed ceased trading |
| Ericom | No Change in Ownership |
| Expand | No Change in Ownership |
| F5 Networks | No Change in Ownership |
| FastScale | Acquired by EMC/Ionix and now VMware |
| Fortisphere | Out of Business |
| GreatLakes | No Change in Ownership |
| HDS | No Change in Ownership |
| Hyper9 | Acquired by Solarwinds |
| HyTrust | No Change in Ownership |
| InMage | No Change in Ownership |
| InstallFree | No Change in Ownership |
| Integrien | Acquired by VMware |
| INX | Acquired by Presidio |
| iStor | Acquired by D-Link |
| iTKO | Acquired by CA Technologies |
| KACE | Acquired by Dell |
| Key Information Systems | No Change in Ownership |
| Kroll Ontrack | Acquired by Altegrity Inc |
| LakeSide Software | No Change in Ownership |
| Logicallis | No Change in Ownership |
| LSI | No Change in Ownership |
| ManageSoft | Acquired by Flexera Software |
| ManageIQ | No Change in Ownership |
| Marathon Technologies | No Change in Ownership |
| Matrox Graphics | No Change in Ownership |
| Messaging Architects | Acquired by NetMail |
| Metron-Athene | No Change in Ownership |
| Mokafive | No Change in Ownership |
| NComputing | No Change in Ownership |
| NetEx | No Change in Ownership |
| Netuitive | No Change in Ownership |
| Nextio | No Change in Ownership |
| Nimsoft | Acquired by CA |
| ONStor | Acquired by LSI |
| Open-E | No Change in Ownership |
| Pano Logic | No Change in Ownership |
| Patni Americas | No Change in Ownership |
| PERFMAN | Acquired by ASG Software |
| Promise Technology | No Change in Ownership |
| Q-Layer | Acquired by Sun Microsystems – Now Oracle |
| Rackable Systems | Interesting now trading as SGI, after buying them |
| Radware | No Change in Ownership |
| Red hat | No Change in Ownership |
| Reflex Security | Now Trading as Reflex Systems |
| RELDATA | Acquired by Starboard Storage Systems |
| RES Software | No Change in Ownership |
| RingCube | Acquired by Citrix |
| ROBOBAC | Acquired by KineticD |
| rPath | No Change in Ownership |
| Sanbolic | No Change in Ownership |
| Sysload Software | Acquired by ORSYP |
| Systar | No Change in Ownership |
| TDB Networks | No Change in Ownership |
| TDI | No Change in Ownership |
| Tek-Tools | Acquired by SolarWinds |
| ThinPrint | Acquired by Konica Minolta Business Technologies, Inc., |
| Third Brigade | Acquired by Trend Micro |
| TIG | No Change in Ownership |
| Transitive Corp | Acquired by IBM |
| Trend Micro | No Change in Ownership |
| triCerat | No Change in Ownership |
| UltraBac | No Change in Ownership |
| UniPrint | No Change in Ownership |
| VAlign | No Change in Ownership |
| Verari Systems | Out of Business |
| Verizon Business | No Change in Ownership |
| Vicom Computer Services | No Change in Ownership |
| Virtual Computer | Acquired by Citirx |
| VMLogix | Acquired by Citrix |
| Voltaire | Acquired by Mellanox |
| Wasabi Systems | Under new Management after failing to secure VC funding in 2009 |
| WIPRO | No Change in Ownership |
| Zeus Technology | No Change in Ownership |
| New Innovators | |
| BakBone Software | Acquired by Quest |
| CENZiC | No Change in Ownership |
| Computer Lab International | No Change in Ownership |
| Estorian | No Change in Ownership |
| iQstor Networks | No Change in Ownership |
| Liquid Computing | Out of Business |
| RTO Software | Virtual Profile Assets Acquired by VMware, Company Shut Down |
| Stonesoft | No Change in Ownership |
| StorMagic | No Change in Ownership |
| ThinLaunch Software | No Change in Ownership |
| VertenSys | No Change in Ownership |
| Virtual Instruments | No Change in Ownership |
So what was all this nostalgia about then, well there is a purpose to my reminiscing, when a technology area undergoes a period of consolidation such as the virtualization world has in the last four years it means that the big boys have started to take notice and want a slice of the pie, however what makes this particular period of consolidation more interesting is that it has occurred during one of the biggest world recessions since the twenties, some of the numbers that have changed hands for these companies would make Croceous blush. This is a truly remarkable position for these startups to be in. The chances for a company to be bought up and the founders to be made rich beyond the dreams of avarice not just a pipe dream for these companies.
The only thing I am worried about is that there are an alarming number of similarities with the DotCom boom of the late 1990’s and early 2000’s here. I just hope that those similarities do not end with the same result.
Xsigo actually got acquired by Oracle a few months ago. Apparently Oracle thought they did software defined networking and they needed to get in that space after VMware bought Nicira. (Even though they’re two totally different beasts.)