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Dell Adds To Boomi's Cloud Integration Capabilities

Acquired by Dell last November to help businesses "reap the full value of cloud computing," Boomi is getting a facelift to help customers achieve greater enterprise efficiency while leveraging existing IT investments. According to the 2011 InformationWeek Analytics State of Cloud Computing Survey, integration is one of the six major areas being underfunded or ignored by CIOs. Dell wants to offer streamlined integration connections across the enterprise.

The new version of Dell Boomi AtomSphere, Spring 11, includes capabilities for middleware connectivity, large-scale data management and migration, and anywhere integration monitoring. Designed to simplify midsize to large businesses' paths to the cloud, the software will help customers integrate the new with the old, reaping the benefits of the cloud without having to rip and replace what businesses already have, says Rick Nucci, founder and CTO of Dell Boomi.

It's one of the top concerns for cloud customers, he says. "There can be dozens of applications involved in the processes, and Boomi sits in the middle and integrates all these different systems ... and automates the process."

At first glance, the union of Boomi and Dell was not a marriage made in heaven, notes IDC's Robert Mahowald, research VP, SaaS and cloud services. "You kind of think of Dell as where an independent software company goes to die ... or to be diffused."

Before the acquisition, the belief was that HP, following in IBM's footsteps (it acquired Boomi competitor Cast Iron a year ago), would be the successful suitor. Dell made its fortune on selling commodity PCs and servers direct, but it has lately made a concerted effort to beef up its portfolio to appeal to a more enterprise market, including services and storage. "There's obviously more money on the table [for Boomi] because of Dell."

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