CA to buy application testing company ITKO

29.06.2011
CA said on Wednesday it plans to acquire Interactive TKO, which offers a simulation platform designed to reduce the time it takes to develop and test complex applications, for US$330 million in cash.

ITKO's flagship product, Lisa, allows developers to test applications that combine components from software-as-a-service, business process management and service-oriented-architecture applications. An increasing number of enterprises are building such applications, which are more expensive and risky to create, ITKO said.

Lisa allows developers to test the composite applications using their existing development and testing frameworks, and quickly create new test environments on their own networks or in the cloud, CA said. It uses virtualization to test applications when the physical resources aren't available. Lisa can also simulate services, such as a checkout or fulfillment process, so that developers can test interaction with those services without actually invoking them, CA said.

The acquisition will add a new IT management service to CA's portfolio. It didn't say when it expects the acquisition to close.

ITKO is a privately held company with headquarters in Plano, Texas. It says 125 enterprise customers use its service, including five of the top six commercial banks.

ITKO's president and CEO, Shridhar Mittal, will join CA as general manager of a new ITKO division. Its 120 employees are also expected to join CA, the companies said.