IBM buys CIMS Labs for virtualization tools

IBM acquired on Wednesday privately held CIMS Labs for an undisclosed sum and said it will incorporate the company's usage-tracking software into IBM's Tivoli management software.

Roseville, Calif.-based CIMS Labs, which has about 170 customers, sells software that can keep tabs on how different components, such as servers or e-mail, are being used. The product line includes tools that let IT organizations attach a cost to usage and bill a particular business department. IBM executives said it intends to sell the CIMS Labs software to customers thta "virtualize" their computing resources, or share a particular server or program across different applications. "Customers are increasingly taking advantage of virtualization technologies to make it simpler and less expensive to optimize computing systems and lower the total cost of ownership," Rich Lechner, IBM's vice president of virtualization, said in a statement.