Microsoft said on Monday it is buying the assets of Rosetta Biosoftware, a unit of Merck, as part of an effort to expand into the life sciences software arena.
The Rosetta technology will be used to add genetic and genomic data management abilities to Microsoft's recently announced Amalga Life Sciences effort.
As part of the deal, Merck will now become an Amalga customer, Microsoft said, Merck will also "provide strategic input to Microsoft on the direction and evolution of new solutions incorporating Rosetta Biosoftware technologies."
"This agreement establishes a stable and sustainable platform for the Rosetta Biosoftware technology," Merck Research Laboratories VP Rupert Vessey said in a statement.
Microsoft, which has a separate Amalga product family for hospitals, announced in April that it would offer Microsoft Amalga Life Sciences as an effort to help in the drug research software arena. The tools are designed to help manage and analyze the large amounts of data gathered in the process of designing new drugs.
The Merck deal is expected to close at the end of June 2009, and the new Amalga Life Sciences platform incorporating Rosetta Biosoftware technologies should be available in early 2010, Microsoft said.
Transitive, the company best known for powering the emulation layer that helped ease Apple's transition to Intel chips, announced Tuesday that it is being bought by IBM.
In addition to helping Apple create Rosetta, Transitive eased a number of different architecture transitions in the tech world, including SGI's move from MIPS to Itanium processors as well as an effort by Intel to woo Sun Microsystems customers. IBM was also a customer, using Transitive's tech to allow x86 workloads to run on Big Blue's Power processor-based servers.
IBM didn't say how much it would pay to acquire Transitive, which is headquartered in Los Gatos, Calif., and also has development efforts in Manchester, England. Transitive has about 100 employees. The deal is expected to close in early December.
"Transitive is a leader in cross-platform virtualization and a pioneer in developing technologies that allow applications written for one type of microprocessor and operating system to run on multiple platforms--with little or no modification," IBM said in a statement. "As a result, the technology will enable customers to consolidate their Linux-based applications onto the IBM systems that make the most sense for their business needs."
IBM plans to continue to offer its PowerVM LX 86 product, which is based on Transitive technology. IBM is evaluating Transitive's other products as part of its overall Systems product strategy.
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