Salesforce.com (CRM: sentiment, chart, options) said this morning that it agreed to buy Instranet Inc., a maker of call-center technology, for $31.5 million in cash and the assumption of $4.2 million in cash on the latter company's balance sheet. CRM supplies online services for sales and marketing professionals, and chief executive Marc Benioff noted that the Instranet acquisition "will help catapult our growth in the customer service and support space."

Today's announcement has pushed CRM shares more than 1% higher, extending a long-term uptrend along support from their 10-month moving average. The stock might also be catching a halo lift, as most tech stocks are trading higher at midday following a well-received earnings report from Hewlett-Packard (HPQ).

As the shares trade atop the $66 level, call volume is heavy on the stock's November 65 contract. At midday, this in-the-money option has seen 1,197 contracts change hands on open interest of 2,270.