HP to bulk up software group with Bristol buy

Hewlett-Packard said on Monday that it intends to acquire Bristol Technology, a company that sells software for monitoring complex business transactions. No financial details were disclosed. Bristol's software will be sold through the HP software group, the company said of the deal, expected to close in 30 days.

HP said Bristol's transaction-monitoring software complements the testing and systems monitoring products it gained through its Mercury Interactive buy. "The acquisition of Bristol Technology extends our business service management solution and BTO (business technology optimization) offerings by helping customers better manage the performance, availability and impact of these business processes," Deborah Traub, vice president of products for HP management software, said in a statement. Bristol has already integrated its technology with HP's system-monitoring database, the companies said.