Cisco, which dominates the market for networking gear used to pass information between computers, last month announced plans to sell so-called blade servers, slim back-office computers that businesses use to process data and run application programs. The move put Cisco in direct competition with server makers such as Hewlett-Packard Co., and International Business Machines Corp., two of Cisco’s longtime partners.
Tidal, a closely held company based in Palo Alto, Calif., makes software that monitors the performance of applications running in data centers. It specializes in managing popular software from Microsoft Corp., Oracle Corp., and SAP AG.
Software acquisitions are rare for Cisco. The San Jose, Calif., company mainly relies on other companies to provide programs that work with its hardware. Owning Tidal’s software will help Cisco optimize the performance of its servers, Bill Ruh, vice president of Cisco’s advanced-services organization, said Thursday.