Oracle is set to acquire virtualisation vendor Virtual Iron Software for an undisclosed sum.

Virtual Iron, pitched as an affordable alternative to VMware, provides server virtualisation management software that enables capacity management in virtualised data centres.

Anticipated to close this summer, Oracle expects the combination of Virtual Iron’s technology and Oracle VM’s server virtualisation product to provide resource management across the full software stack.

Wim Coekaerts, Oracle vice president of Linux and virtualisation engineering, said: “Industry trends are driving demand for virtualisation as a way to reduce operating expenses and support green IT strategies without sacrificing quality of service.

“With the addition of Virtual Iron, Oracle expects to enable customers to more dynamically manage their server capacity and optimise their power consumption. The acquisition is consistent with Oracle’s strategy to provide comprehensive enterprise software management and will facilitate more efficient management of application service levels.”

Both companies will continue to operate independently, until the deal closes.

Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.