Quest Software Catapults into Private Cloud Automation Market with Acquisition of Surgient

ALISO VIEJO, Calif.--(EON: Enhanced Online News)--Quest Software, Inc. (Nasdaq: QSFT) today announced that it had entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Surgient, Inc., a provider of private cloud automation software. The Austin, Texas-based company’s Surgient Platform enables organizations to deploy and manage secure cloud infrastructures to gain business agility and reduce costs. With the Surgient Automation Platform, organizations can create robust and secure infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) clouds that may be shared across the organization. The acquisition is subject to customary closing conditions and is expected to close during the third quarter of 2010.

“Demand for workload and server automation tools is growing rapidly and will top $1 billion by 2014”

“Quest has a proven track record of acquiring companies with exceptional technologies that eliminate barriers to entry for organizations,” said Doug Garn, CEO and president of Quest Software. “Since 2003, Surgient has developed an impressive array of patented technologies and products, developed by some of the brightest people in the industry. When the acquisition is complete, our customers will have the platform they need to not only quickly implement private cloud infrastructures, but also support them effectively with the best management solutions in the industry.”

Private cloud computing is emerging as a fundamental requirement for businesses. According to a recent IDC survey, 73 percent of all organizations are evaluating, planning or have already implemented private cloud strategies¹. As a leading provider of cloud automation solutions, Surgient provides a patented and proven technology that supports heterogeneous hypervisor environments and diverse customer environments including mid-market, enterprise and managed service providers. Surgient has more than 60 customers with 160 successful deployments.

“Demand for workload and server automation tools is growing rapidly and will top $1 billion by 2014,” said Mary Johnston Turner, IDC research director for Enterprise Systems Management. “Increased use of virtualization and plans for private cloud data centers are creating the need for dynamic workload migration and system provisioning solutions that can react to real time application and business service performance requirements. The combination of Quest’s Foglight, Vizioncore, and Surgient technologies will offer customers a number of key private cloud data center management building blocks.”

As the largest independent software vendor in virtualization management solutions, with more than 20,000 customers, Quest seeks to enrich its customers’ virtualization and cloud implementations with data protection, monitoring, administration, and desktop virtualization solutions to reduce administration costs, and make more efficient use of virtualized computing resources. The acquisition of cloud automation provider Surgient, will uniquely position Quest to deliver products and services that add value for customers by enabling rapid, affordable deployment of private clouds, thus allowing customers to fully leverage their investments in virtualization without the risk.

¹IDC, Worldwide Enterprise Server Cloud Computing 2010-2014 Forecast, Doc.# 223118, Apr 2010.

About Quest Software, Inc.
Now more than ever, organizations need to work smart and improve efficiency. Quest Software creates and supports smart systems management products – helping our customers solve everyday IT challenges faster and easier. Our innovative solutions for application monitoring, database management, Windows management and virtualization management help customers achieve better results, faster. Visit www.quest.com for more information.

Quest, Quest Software, and the Quest logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of Quest Software in the United States and certain other countries. Other trademarks and registered trademarks are property of their respective owners.

Forward Looking Statements:
This press release includes predictions, statements and other information relating to our acquisition of Surgient, Inc. that might be considered forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements relate, but are not limited, to the combination of Surgient technologies with Quest product offerings, the capabilities of such technologies and offerings and future benefits to Quest customers. These statements are based on current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results could differ materially from those anticipated as a result of various factors, including: reductions or delays in information technology spending; adverse changes in general economic or market conditions; our ability to successfully integrate Surgient personnel, products and technologies into Quest product offerings; risks associated with foreign operations; competitive factors, including industry consolidation, entry of new competitors into the IAM market, and new product and marketing initiatives by our competitors; our ability to retain existing personnel and recruit and retain qualified personnel; and other risks described from time to time in Quest’s filings with the SEC. For a discussion of these and other related risks, please refer to our recent SEC filings, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009, which are available on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date thereof. We undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect events or circumstances after the date thereof.

Web links referenced in this release:
Quest Software, Inc.: www.quest.com
Surgient: www.surgient.com
Systems management: www.quest.com
Application monitoring: www.quest.com/application-monitoring
Database management: www.quest.com/database-management
Windows management: www.quest.com/windows-management
Virtualization Management: www.quest.com/virtualization