Opsware
| Company type | Currently owned by OpenText |
|---|---|
| Founded | September 1999 (originally founded as Loudcloud, Inc.) |
| Headquarters | Sunnyvale, California |
Key people | Marc Andreessen: Chairman and co-founder, Ben Horowitz: CEO and co-founder, Tim Howes: CTO and co-founder, In Sik Rhee: COO and co-founder, John O'Farrell: EVP |
| Products | Cloud, automation, and IT service management software |
| Website | Micro Focus website |
Opsware, Inc. was a software firm headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, specializing in solutions for provisioning, configuring, and managing servers and network devices aimed at enterprise clients. The company maintained additional offices in New York City, Redmond, Washington, Cary, North Carolina, along with an engineering center located in Cluj, Romania.
In July 2007, HP announced its intention to purchase Opsware for $1.65 billion in cash ($14.25 per share), with the transaction finalized on September 21, 2007.
After HP's division into HP Inc. and Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE), Opsware’s portfolio became part of HPE Software. Subsequently, in 2017, HPE Software merged with UK-based Micro Focus. Later in 2023, Micro Focus was acquired by OpenText.
History
Established on September 9, 1999, as Loudcloud by founders Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz, Tim Howes, and In Sik Rhee, the company was among the earliest managed services providers and pioneers in delivering software as a service through an Infrastructure as a Service framework. Loudcloud gained recognition as an innovator in cloud computing and SaaS offerings.
In June 2000, Loudcloud secured $120 million during its second funding round—the largest amount raised at that time—soon followed by competitor Totality Corporation raising $100 million.
Following the sale of its operational services division to EDS in 2002, Loudcloud rebranded itself as Opsware and shifted focus to marketing its internally developed server lifecycle management software. Opsware grew through several acquisitions: asset management company Tangram Enterprise Solutions in 2004; network device configuration specialist Rendition Networks in 2005; data center automation provider CreekPath in 2006; and Seattle-based iConclude for run-book automation in 2007—thereby enhancing its automation and provisioning portfolio.
The $1.65 billion acquisition of Opsware by HP was the company’s third largest deal at that time. HP incorporated Opsware’s product suite into its Software Business Unit, offering these solutions alongside other SaaS products.
In 2015, HP’s Software division became part of Hewlett-Packard Enterprise. Two years later, it merged with Micro Focus through a spin-merge transaction. In 2023, OpenText acquired Micro Focus, bringing former Opsware technologies under the OpenText Hybrid Cloud Management portfolio.
Products
Opsware offered three primary systems. The Server Automation System (SAS) delivered large-scale provisioning, policy enforcement, compliance auditing, and patch management for Windows, Unix, and Linux servers. This product is currently marketed as HP Server Automation software. The Network Automation System (NAS) enabled provisioning of network devices along with policy enforcement, security lockdowns, software lifecycle management, and compliance reporting across thousands of devices from more than 500 vendors and models. Cisco rebranded this solution as "Network Compliance Manager" (NCM). It is now available as HP Network Automation software. The Process Automation System (PAS), obtained via the acquisition of partner iConclude in 2007, provided run-book automation capabilities and is presently sold as HP Operations Orchestration software.
Customers
Opsware’s clientele comprised Hewlett-Packard (its parent organization), General Electric, and Electronic Data Systems (EDS)—which was acquired by HP in 2008 and subsequently renamed HP Enterprise Services—as well as the U.S. Federal government and a wide array of Fortune 500 corporations that utilized its software solutions for IT infrastructure automation.
References
- Lawton, Christopher and Kingsbury, Kevin. "H-P Advances into Data Center Market", The Wall Street Journal, July 23, 2007.
External links
- ↑ Lua error in Module:Citation/CS1/Configuration at line 2123: attempt to index field '?' (a nil value).