I'm still trying to work out VMWares strategy here.<p>So I assume they make most of their cash selling stuff like ESX/vSphere Server (Or whatever it is now called). And they really seem to own the space (true MS shops will user Hyper-V and true OS shops Xen, but VMWare seems to be everywhere).<p>But what's with the aquisitions?
* Springsource - Java application stack
* Zimbra - Email platform<p>I understand they want to diversify the product line (esp if MS follow through and focus on Hyper-V), but I still don't really see where they are trying to go. A kind of Semi-Private Cloud/P-a-a-s, with email hosting? Anyone seeing what I'm missing?
It's hard to see VMWare's strategy on this, but here's my guess:<p>Maybe they've actually got some finance guys looking at their P/E which is in the 70 range. So they're probably using their premium stock price as a good way to pick up some bargains while their core business revenue is slowing down with the rest of the economy (and with tough competition).<p>In my mind, it makes me think that they worry about (or are at least are hedging against) their core market being eroded by other players. If they did believe it was VM/VDI for the long haul, then they'd be investing in technologies with far better synergies than the ones they're picking. I mean "cloud" technologies pretty much applies to anything these days, so it'd be a stretch to say these are really "good fit" acquisitions.<p>I have a feeling this could work out okay for VMWare, though it feels more like a business play than a technology one.