Article written by David Marshall
This week, if you put the words "VMware" and "acquisition" in the same sentence, the mass majority of us would conclude you were talking about the $67b Dell acquisition of EMC, VMware's parent company.
But in a small corner of VMworld Europe 2015, those two words are being paired up to talk about the VMware End-User Computing team's announcement made earlier today that talks about the virtualization giant's plans to acquire Boxer, Inc., a privately held company that offers a comprehensive and secure personal information management (PIM) solution for mobile devices to businesses and consumers.
At first blush, the acquisition news may give you pause. Boxer is after all a consumer oriented application, with apps being designed for use on iOS and Android devices. And that may bring up memories of the great VMware sell off in 2013 when the company "realigned its strategy" and sold off the likes of Zimbra, Sliderocket and Wavemaker. But this latest move has more to do with security and control, and boosting VMware's business mobility product line.
The addition of Boxer becomes part of VMware's strategy around the digital workspace, which according to VMware, offers a single, central location for business users to access any application on any device, built on a mobile-cloud architecture that centralizes core services, simplifies management, and meets both user and business expectations. VMware adds that it provides businesses with the power to deliver innovative business processes and reach customers in new ways; but most importantly, it follows the VMware End-User Computing philosophy of consumer simplicity and enterprise-grade security so the solution can realistically be used in the real world of on-demand, mobile-cloud computing.