VMware Inc. has been doing some last-minute holiday shopping. The virtualization giant Monday confirmed a report on SDxCentral that it closed a deal Friday to acquire PLUMgrid Inc., an early contender in the software-defined networking space.

The startup was founded in 2011 by three Cisco Systems Inc. veterans to help companies better handle the growing amounts of traffic crisscrossing their infrastructure. With the help of $49 million in venture funding, the founders and their team developed a management system that can automate network operations while making it easier to add more hardware.

One of the PLUMgrid Platform’s main components is a technology called IO Visor that the startup donated to The Linux Foundation last year. It provides the ability to perform packet switching and other networking tasks using regular servers instead of expensive dedicated equipment. Moreover, the technology can do so without restarting a machine when a new function is added, which enables customers to dynamically reprogram their hardware as application requirements change.

VMware won’t obtain the rights to IO Visor because of its open-source status. However, company does stand to gain the rest of PLUMgrid platform and the offerings built on top of it. Its flagship Open Networking Suite promises to ease the management of OpenStack-based environments, while the Container Networking Suite provides similar capabilities for containerized applications.

Lastly, PLUMgrid has developed a monitoring tool called CloudApex that aims to give organizations a real-time view of their networks. Its graphical dashboard enables IT staff to quickly map out hardware resources, identify issues and find the root cause using built-in analytics features.

PLUMgrid’s solutions will enable VMware to enhance its NSX software-defined networking platform, which is based on technology that it obtained through another startup acquisition back in 2012. The virtualization giant told Light Reading that it will also absorb the startup’s staff to support its product development efforts. Former PLUMgrid Chief Executive Larry Lang had already joined VMware back in 2015.

The company didn’t share any other information about the deal, including its financial terms. But it’s safe to assume that the intense competition in the software-defined networking market was among the reasons why PLUMgrid decided to sell. The startup was facing off against much bigger and better established providers including, among others, VMware with its NSX platform.

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