Netuitive's software will be used as what Dell calls the Director component of VIS. The other parts are Advanced Infrastructure Manager, derived from its Scalent acquisition, and , from a partnership with Dynamic Ops.

A Dell spokeswoman on Thursday couldn't immediately confirm the partnership, which was disclosed to analysts earlier this month.

"Netuitive hopes the deal will bring its predictive analytics into the mainstream of IT," The 451 Group analyst Rachel Chalmers said in a research note. "The company's main competitors, ProactiveNet and Integrien, were acquired by BMC Software and VMware, respectively, leaving Netuitive the only remaining independent predictive-analytics pure play."

Ovum analyst Roy Illsley said the partnership is a good one for Dell.

"Ovum considers behavioral analysis the next major innovation for infrastructure and cloud management, and this deal gives Dell an edge over its main competitors," .