LANDesk Buys Managed Planet For ‘Big Data’ Play

Terms were not disclosed. LANDesk, in Salt Lake City, is owned by private equity firm Thoma Bravo of Chicago. Dallas-based Managed Planet, founded in 2000, had been privately held.

The acquisition is the first since LANDesk became a standalone business in 2010, as part of Thoma Bravo and the fifth since it was spun out of Intel (Nasdaq: INTC), the No. 1 chipmaker, in 2002.

The software developer had previously licensed Managed Planet's data analysis, management, hardware discovery and asset analytics products as part of its own LANDesk Data Analytics products.

Acquisitions represent an important component of our growth strategy, said Bob Macfarlane, VP for corporate development. In earlier interviews, LANDesk CEO Steve Daly said the 600-employee company was profitable on 2011 revenue exceeding $150 million.

The biggest technology and software companies are all trying to tap into the increasing flows of data triggered by new enterprise networks, smartphone traffic and tablets. Market researchers such as Gartner estimate the amount of data traffic this year will jump nearly 50 percent, to 2.7 zettabytes, or 10 to the 21st power.

Besides deploying its own sales staff, LANDesk has 350 channel partners and two resellers that work closely to install its products on demand: Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ), the No. 1 computer and PC maker and Lenovo Group of China (Pink:  LNVGY), the No. 2 PC maker.

LANDesk also competes with the major security software companies including Symanetc (Nasdaq: SYMC) and Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), the world's biggest software company, selling security software, with its Mobility Manager Suite 9 products that can also be used to track employee smartphones and laptops.