So what's next?
"Going forward, we are now in a position to leverage Quest's expertise in application performance management to continue the creation of credible alternatives to VMware vCenter Operations," said Semple. "Our combined products not only support multiple hypervisor types, but also provide visibility into both physical and virtual systems. While we are not discussing product roadmaps at this time, the possibilities are intriguing."
With increased competition coming from VMware's expansion into the virtualization management stack, the acquisition begins to make perfect sense. However, much like VMware's pain in trying to consolidate management applications -- in-house developed products, products gained through acquisition, and those products thrown over the fence from its parent company EMC -- I don't know how easy it will be for Quest to ultimately decide between (or merge) its own virtualization product lines with those created by VKernel. But these guys are smart, and they need to make sure they can outbuild and outthink the monster-sized VMware that is currently both partner and competitor.
This article, "Will Quest's acquisition of VKernel shrink virtualization management ecosystem?," was originally published at InfoWorld.com. Follow the latest developments in virtualization at InfoWorld.com. For the latest business technology news, follow InfoWorld.com on Twitter.