Computer maker Dell has purchased Software-as-a-Service outfit Boomi for an undisclosed sum.

Boomi focuses on the integration side of a business with its cloud-based software that boosts customers that handily includes Salesforce.com as well as financial and marketing companies.

Dell said Boomi, which is based in Philadelphia, manages millions of transactions a month and has hundreds of punters on its books.

The PC box maker said the buyout represented its commitment to helping biz customers shift into web-based computing.

“Twenty-six years ago we helped accelerate the move to client-server computing; today we’ll help drive a similar transformation with customers turning to the cloud to drive costs down and innovation up,” said Dell's SMB and consumer president Steve Felice.

Dell's boss Michael Dell revealed in Hong Kong yesterday that the company would announce a cloudy acquisition today.

That comment got Wall Street speculating that Brocade or even Rackspace would be scooped up by the world's second largest computer vendor.

Instead Dell bought Boomi, whose website at time of writing is taking a little lie down. ®