In a move aimed at bolstering its product line, storage vendor EMC Corp. is buying SMARTS Inc., an event automation and real-time network systems management software vendor.

The deal, announced Tuesday, is worth about US$260 million and is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2005, according to Hopkinton, Mass.-based EMC. After the acquisition, SMARTS, also known as System Management ARTS Inc., will be integrated into EMC"s software group.

"This acquisition is about market expansion, innovative technology and growth," EMC President and CEO Joe Tucci said in a statement. "SMARTS represents a strategic acquisition for EMC in a complementary, growing market -- network systems management."

SMARTS"s network systems management software includes SMARTS InCharge, which automatically pinpoints problems, calculates their impact and presents logical action plans to keep business services running. EMC said it will incorporate the technologies into future storage management software products.

Shaula Alexander-Yemini, founder and CEO of SMARTS, said in a statement that the deal is good for the company and its customers.

"This is the right move at the right time for SMARTS," Alexander-Yemini said. "EMC and SMARTS share a complementary vision for the increasing importance of infrastructure management, sell to the same large enterprises and service providers and a have mutual respect for each others" culture of innovation.

"With the help of EMC, SMARTS now has at our disposal the resources to realize the full potential of our technology and bring a broader set of products to a larger customer base much faster," Alexander-Yemini said.

The White Plains, N.Y.-based company said it expects fiscal 2004 revenue to be slightly more than $60 million.

A spokesman for EMC couldn"t be reached for comment this morning.