HP has been snapping up software companies for the past couple of years, but its plans to acquire application-management specialist Mercury Interactive should give the system vendor the boost it needs to convince customers it is serious about software, analysts say.

Last week's $4.5 billion deal also should bring a more complete management package to HP and Mercury Interactive customers as they attempt to control applications better from development to deployment to operations.

"OpenView is very good at systems management, database management, but overall application management is something they've been lacking," says Jim Maas, solution monitoring engineer at Fresenius Medical Care in Lexington, Mass. He is a longtime HP OpenView customer and has been looking for application-monitoring tools to better meet the needs of about 2,400 clinics worldwide.

"Bringing in Mercury Interactive will be a good thing," he says.

Maas, who heads up the New England chapter of HP's OpenView user group, says that for the most part, HP customers are optimistic about the acquisition, the largest since HP merged with Compaq in 2002.