IBM has agreed to acquire Candle Corporation, a privately held company based in El Segundo, California. Financial details were not disclosed. Candle offers a broad set of solutions to help customers develop, deploy and manage their enterprise infrastructure. The company's offerings help optimize data centers and application infrastructure.

IBM says the acquisition "will provide customers with an enhanced set of software solutions for managing an on demand operating environment and complements IBM's middleware solutions." According to Robert LeBlanc, general manager, IBM Tivoli software, the Candle acquisition "fills gaps in the portfolio.. adding analysis and analytics to existing products." LeBlanc said that so far, no branding strategy or product road maps have been developed, but IBM plans to support Candle's existing customers.

"Candle brings award-winning infrastructure management expertise and technology to the IBM software portfolio," said Steve Mills, senior vice president and group executive of IBM Software Group. "Together we will provide customers with powerful capabilities for managing end-to-end infrastructure, processes and applications, which are key requirements for the on demand operating environment."

Candle has more than 3,000 customers worldwide. Over the years, Candle has developed an extensive and highly regarded set of infrastructure management solutions that cover a wide range of hardware and software, including IBM's DB2, Lotus, Tivoli, and WebSphere software, as well as zSeries, Linux, UNIX and Windows platforms.

The acquisition is subject to customary regulatory approvals and is expected to close in the second quarter of 2004.