The enterprise software businesses, which include the widely used ArcSight security platform, have been merged with Micro Focus, a British software company. HPE was formed when the company once known as Hewlett-Packard split into HPE and HP Inc in November 2015.

The spin-off comes as HPE adjusts to the rapid shift of corporate computing to cloud services.

Senior vice president of HPE’s cloud software group Ric Lewis said that HPE aims to cater specifically to customers running services both on their own premises and in the cloud.

The spin-off marks the end of HP’s unhappy tangle with Autonomy, which it acquired for $11 billion in an aborted effort to transform HP into an enterprise software leader. The ink was barely dry on the much-criticised deal when the company took an $8.8 billion writedown on it.

HP fired CEO Leo Apotheker and later sued Michael Lynch and Sushovan Hussain, once the chief executive and chief financial officers of Autonomy, respectively. The ongoing legal case remains the responsibility of HPE, the company said.

Chris Hsu, who was previously chief operating officer of HPE, is taking over as CEO of Micro Focus. He intends to focus on growth through acquisitions, Hsu said.

“A highly fragmented industry of enterprise software creates an environment whereby we will be well positioned to benefit from that industry consolidation,” Hsu said.