Systems management firm LanDesk is to be bought by connectivity firm Avocent, and run as subsidiary

IT deployment tools firm LanDesk Software is to be acquired by KVM and remote-access specialist Avocent in a deal worth up to $476m.

LanDesk was spun off from Intel in 2002 and sold to venture-fund companies. Since then the firm has built a strong reputation as IT managers have turned to automated ways to provision systems.

Avocent plans to run LanDesk as an independent subsidiary.

The LanDesk acquisition could turn attention to its competitor Altiris. The eight-year-old company floated in 2002 and has since forged licensing links with Dell, HP and IBM.

“We think that by combining their access to millions of datacentre ports and our access to systems we’ll be able to provide better manageability, telemetry, updating, patching and similar services,” said Terry Haas, LanDesk vice-president of European sales.

Haas also noted that both firms are proponents of the Intel-backed Intelligent Platform Management Interface (IPMI).