Dell to acquire Quest Software for $2.4bn

Purchase takes Dell further into software - and away from PC hardware

Dell is to acquire management software vendor Quest Software for $2.4bn (£1.5bn).

The acquisition reflects Dell's intent to move away from its commodity PC business and to expand its recently formed 'Software Group'. It follows the April acquisition of re-hosting solutions and services provider Clerity Solutions.

Quest was established in 1987 and has more than 100,000 customers worldwide, operating in 60 offices in 23 countries. Its software and services be will integrated with Dell's existing offerings in systems management, security, data protection and workspace management.

Dell said that Quest's 1,500 software sales experts and 1,300 software developers will join its systems management, security and cloud integration teams. There was no further comment from Dell on how Quest's 1,050 employees will integrate with the Dell software division.

"The addition of Quest will enable Dell to deliver more competitive server, storage, networking and end-user computing solutions and services to customers," said John Swainson, president of Dell Software Group.

Dell will pay $28 (£18) per share in cash for each share of Quest and the deal is expected to close in Dell's third fiscal quarter, subject to approval by Quest's shareholders and customary conditions.