CA Technologies to acquire Rally Software Development

CA Technologies, the Long Island-born software giant, has agreed to acquire Rally Software Development Corp. of Boulder, Colorado, for $480 million.

The acquisition, scheduled to close by September, further expands CA's push to move beyond its core business of selling mainframe computer programs to banks, airlines and other large enterprises

Rally, which has about 500 employees worldwide, sells programs to help software makers speed up the development of their products.

"In order to compete, businesses need to develop high quality software quickly and reliably," CA chief executive Mike Gregoire said.

Rally had $88 million in sales during its most recent fiscal year. Its customers include more than 35 Fortune 100 companies.

CA, which relocated its headquarters from Islandia to Manhattan last year, announced the acquisition Wednesday after the close of regular trading on Wall Street. Shares fell less than 1 percent in after-hours trading, to $31.14.