Hewlett-Packard on Thursday announced a deal to buy business cloud-computing specialty firm Eucalyptus.

HP did not disclose financial terms of the acquisition, which is aimed at ramping the California company's ability to help firms build computing homes in the Internet cloud.

Eucalyptus chief executive Marten Mickos will manage the HP Cloud business and report directly to the head of HP, Meg Whitman.

"Eucalyptus and HP share a common vision for the future of cloud in the enterprise," Mickos said in a release.

"Enterprises are demanding open-source cloud solutions, and I'm thrilled to have this opportunity to grow the HP Helion portfolio and lead a world-class business that delivers private, hybrid, managed and public clouds to enterprise customers worldwide."

HP in May introduced a "Helion" portfolio of products and services that organizations can use to move computing projects to online servers in sections of the Internet cloud either open to the public or cordoned off for private use.