Dell to acquire Quest Software for $2.4bn

Hardware giant Dell has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Quest Software for $2.4 billion, several weeks after rumours linking the two firms first surfaced.

Quest will become part of Dell's newly formed software group, and allow the firm to build out its systems, security, data protection and workspace management product portfolios.

Privately held Quest is reported to have posted revenues in the region of $857 million during 2011. It also claims to have 100,000 customers across the globe and 3,850 employees.

Before getting snapped up by Dell, the firm had racked up a number of its own acquisitions, including application compatibility vendor ChangeBase, storage player BakBone and virtualisation specialist Vizioncore.

Rumours of a tie-up between the two firms have been circulating for some time, with the most recent reports suggesting Dell was embroiled in a bidding war for Quest with a private equity house.

In a statement, John Swainson, president of the Dell Software Group, said merging with Quest will strengthen the firm's server, storage, networking and end user computing propositions.

"Quest's suite of industry-leading software products, highly-talented team members and unique intellectual property will position us well in the largest and fastest growing areas of the software industry," said Swainson.

In a letter to Quest customers, announcing the deal, the firm's chief executive Vinny Smith, said the entire team will be joining Dell.

"Dell is the third largest technology company in the world. They have chosen Quest because our focus on systems management and security align so well with their overall software strategy," he wrote.

"On a personal note, customers have always been our first priority...[that] will not change as we begin making this transition," he added.