HP's $241 million acquisition of thin-client vendor Neoware is overshadowed by its purchase the same day of Opsware for $1.6 billion It’s been a busy Monday for Hewlett-Packard as the company announced not one, but two proposed purchases. Somewhat overshadowed by the $1.6 billion HP is forking over to acquire datacenter automation specialist Opsware, is the $241 million the vendor is offering for Neoware.Publicly traded Neoware provides Linux- and Windows-based thin-client computing devices as well as thin-client and virtualization software.HP’s keen to use Neoware to expand its existing thin-client business. “Our objective is to become the preferred brand of thin clients and software for virtualized client computing,” said Kevin Frost, vice president of business desktops with HP’s personal systems group, in a release. HP’s offer values Neoware at $16.25 per share. Neoware’s shares ended trading Friday at $15.24 and by midday Monday were trading up 3.7 percent at $15.81.Subject to shareholder approval, the acquisition is set to close in the fourth quarter of calendar 2007. On becoming part of HP, Neoware will be incorporated into the vendor’s business desktop unit of its personal systems group.Neoware’s partners include ClearCube Technology, IBM, Microsoft, and VMware. Publicly traded Neoware has its headquarters in King of Prussia, Pennsylvania as well as offices in Europe and Asia. Technology Industry