Disclosure: Dell sponsors DevOpsAngle

The newly formed Dell Software Group announced its first acquisition today: AppAssure, a vendor of backup and replication software. Terms of the deal were not announced.

Dell formed the Software Group earlier this month to bring its software assets under one umbrella. According to Dell’s announcement, “The computer maker recently hired private-equity executive and former CA Inc. (CA) head John Swainson to shore up its software business as its looks to focus on higher-margin operations like software and data-storage systems.” Forrester analyst Glenn O’Donnell described Swainson as “the same guy who rescued CA from the brink of collapse and turned it into a truly good software company.”

Storage has been increasingly important for Dell after its failed bidding war with HP over 3Par and its subsequent acquisition of Boomi. But more importantly, this acquisition sheds some light on the strategy behind the Software Group and how Dell may plan to use it to add value to its server line.

In addition to AppAssure and Boomi, Dell’s other acquisitions in recent years include Perot Systems, Scalent, KACE, RNA Networks, Force10 and Compellent.