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Quest Software to Buy Vintela for $56 Million

Windows management software heavyweight Quest Software will buy Vintela Inc., a newer firm specializing in integrating Unix and Linux systems into Active Directory.

The purchase price of $56.5 million in cash will cover all outstanding shares and options, and will dilute pro forma earnings-per-share by $.02, the companies said this week. Quest expects the deal to close late in the second quarter or early in the third quarter, assuming regulators approve.

Quest, which offers application, database and Windows management software, has focused much of its energy on Active Directory-based solutions, starting with migration tools for the big switch from Windows NT 4.0 domains to Windows 2000-based Active Directory forests. The company also sells tools such as its Spotlight line of application life cycle management products.

Vintela, meanwhile, has specialized in tools that extend Active Directory into Unix, Linux, and Mac environments, with its Vintela Authentication Services, Vintela Group Policy, Vintela Single Sign-On for Java, Vintela Management Extensions and Vintela Systems Monitor products.

The two companies say they view the acquisition as a natural evolution based on a common view of the growing importance of Active Directory.

“For many years we have believed that Microsoft Active Directory would become a strategic enterprise directory,” Vinny Smith, chairman and CEO of Quest Software said in a statement. “This is a trend Quest predicted when we began to invest in management solutions for Windows five years ago. The Vintela acquisition is a cornerstone in Quest’s overall strategy for Windows-centric platform integration and identity management.”

Microsoft, a minority stakeholder in Vintela and a Quest partner, lent official support to the deal, which is slightly unusual given that the Redmond software giant does not normally comment on the acquisition of one company by another. Longer-term, that may be a telltale of the deal’s real importance to Microsoft.

“Microsoft is pleased to see these two Active Directory companies unite to help enable IT organizations extend the value of Active Directory throughout their enterprises," Bob Muglia, senior vice president of the Windows Server Division at Microsoft, said in a statement.

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