Some asset sales look more like internal reorganizations. Such is the case today as virtual computing specialist VMware (NYSE: VMW) is paying $200 million to its own majority shareholder, EMC (NYSE: EMC), in return for an IT management software suite.

VMware is buying much of the EMC Ionix software along with development and support teams in four countries, and the plan is to tack Ionix onto the existing systems management capabilities of the VMware vSphere platform. On the surface, that might sound like six of one, half a dozen of the other, but Ionix is a proven product with more than a decade of operating history. That's no mean feat when you're competing against well-known names like CA's (Nasdaq: CA) Unicenter, IBM's (NYSE: IBM) Tivoli, Hewlett-Packard's (NYSE: HPQ) OpenView, and BMC Software's (NYSE: BMC) Remedy.

EMC paid $260 million for all of Ionix six years ago, when it was known as System Management Arts (Smarts for short). With Ionix under its own belt, VMware extends its lead over rivals like Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) in the world of virtual computing, where systems management goes hand in hand with the nowadays relatively simple task of running virtual machines on physical hardware.

The company isn't content to rest on its laurels until the competition catches up. While the transaction itself may not turn too many heads -- until the acquired assets start to make a difference for VMware, that is -- the simple fact that VMware is grabbing pieces off of its former mother ship shows a spunky resolve to keep the company moving toward bigger and better things.

I see a bright future for virtualization as a concept and for VMware both as a business and an investment. I am actually flabbergasted to see that VMware is a four-star CAPS stock when it clearly deserves a top-ranking five-star badge of distinction, in my opinion. Agree? You can help restore balance to the universe by clicking over to CAPS and giving VMware a thumbs-up rating today.