HP might have bought a bunch of software firms in the last year, but it's got no intention of stopping.

Speaking in Barcelona at HP's software jamboree "Software Universe", vice president Tom Hogan said organic growth was not enough for the company and purchases were likely to be big rather than small.

"If we are looking for purchases, it will be in the billions of dollars class," Hogan told CNet (here).

Some of the firm's recent big buys include splashing out $4.5bn for Mercury Interactive in July 2006, and picking up SPI Dynamics in June this year to strengthen its security software. In July 2007, HP paid $1.6bn for Opsware, a firm started by Netscape founder Marc Andreesen that makes software to help automate data centre administration.

Which might lead us on to yesterday's product announcement - Automated Operations 1.0 for automating IT operations across organisations. The software lets you create automated workflows for servers, networks, and PCs and to record and manage the results. More from HP here.

Any guesses as to who might be next on HP's shopping list? Let us know below. ®

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