Keyboard, video and mouse (KVM) kit specialist Avocent has announced it will acquire rival Cyclades in a $90m deal that should complete later this spring, subject to regulatory approval.

Russell Stevens, Avocent regional director, said, “The deal will give us the broadest range of KVM products, and gives us access to some new customers and a new sales channel focused on the telco sector.”

Stevens said Cyclades has serial and analogue products that are ideal for small and medium-sized firms. “So it gives us good low-end products that are particularly interesting in the broadcast sector, retail and banking,” he added. The serial devices can be used with lights-out-management boards to provide emergency access to enterprise systems.

Avocent chief executive John Cooper emphasised Cyclades’ strength in managing Linux systems. “Cyclades has excellent market penetration in the Linux and network infrastructure management space with its AlterPath group of products. We plan to leverage its expertise in these markets to provide an integrated and comprehensive solution for Windows, Linux and networking environments,” said Cooper.

KVM has historically been extremely popular in enterprise datacentres, though the shift to server virtualisation is reducing but not removing demand for such kit. Virtual server systems provide software tools that are similar in function to KVM systems.

In a separate move, datacentre management specialist Opalis is launching a new sales drive targeting UK companies. Its software tools are designed to automate datacentre operations to reduce operational costs.