HP has signed an agreement to acquire ConteXtream, the maker of carrier-grade network virtualization software designed to help service providers deploy network functions virtualization (NFV) on existing hardware, the companies announced Tuesday morning.

Financial terms of the deal were undisclosed. Mountain View, Calif.-based ConteXtream is backed by $23.8 million in venture funding, according to CrunchBase.

Founded in 2006, ConteXtream was an early entrant to the software-defined networking (SDN) market. In December, the company switched from a proprietary SDN controller to one based on OpenDaylight.

HP is a significant contributor to the OpenDaylight project, and sells its own distribution of the open source network controller software under the Helion brand.

"ConteXtream’s SDN controller platform complements HP OpenNFV solutions and aligns with NFV’s evolution as an open source-driven architecture," HP Senior Vice President of NFV Saar Gillai wrote in a company blog post announcing the acquisition.

ConteXtream co-founder and CEO Nachman Shelef will continue to lead the business upon its integration into HP's communications solutions unit, and will report to Gillai.

Image via Flickr user rnddave, modified under CC2.0.