Microsoft Corp. announced on Friday that the company has acquired Mississauga, Ont.-based process automation software vendor Opalis Software Inc. for an undisclosed sum. Microsoft corporate vice-president of management and services Brad Anderson announced the deal on the System Center team blog. "I believe this acquisition is a pivotal piece to deliver on our dynamic data centre initiative," Anderson wrote. "Opalis' software captures the IT processes, in a documented and repeatable way … These capabilities will be added to Microsoft System Center to help customers automate complex IT processes, increase cost savings and shorten timeframes for IT service delivery across physical, virtual and cloud computing environments." Opalis Integration Server automates IT processes, brings together disparate management tools and integrates data across systems.