Dell to Acquire Boomi, Expanding Web-Based Computing

Dell Inc., the world’s third-largest maker of personal computers, agreed to buy software company Boomi to expand its Web-based computing services.

Boomi’s programs help companies manage and integrate cloud computing -- which delivers software and stores data via the Internet -- with their existing applications and databases. Financial terms of the transaction weren’t disclosed, Dell said today in a statement.

Dell, based in Round Rock, Texas, is trying to reduce its dependence on PC sales and build its computer-services business through acquisitions. It bought services-provider Perot Systems Corp. last year for about $3.9 billion, its biggest purchase, and lost out to Hewlett-Packard Co. in September in a bidding war for storage provider 3Par Inc.

Boomi’s software-as-a-service applications transfer data between Internet-based and on-site programs. The company is based in Berwyn, Pennsylvania.

Dell rose 2 cents to $14.43 at 12:54 p.m. New York time in Nasdaq Stock Market trading. The shares are little changed this year.

In the third quarter, Dell ranked third in the global PC market, based on shipments, according to Gartner Inc. Dell trailed HP and Acer Inc.

(source:bloomberg.com)