Sun Microsystems has acquired Belgian cloud computing firm Q-layer, which produces agile data centre software automating the management of public and private cloud environments.

Sun said Q-layer’s technology would simplify cloud management and speed application deployment, allowing the instant and scalable provisioning of servers, storage, bandwidth and applications.

Sun has not disclosed the cost of the transaction, describing it as “not material to Sun”.

The company has been criticised by analysts and investors over the price paid for several of its larger acquisitions, particularly its $4 billion acquisition of StorageTek, the write-down of which accounted for a significant proportion of the firm’s $1.7 billion loss last quarter.

The latest acquisition comes after the company announced in December that it would cease its grid computing service Network.com in favour of cloud computing.