* This might not be the end of acquisitions this summer in the network storage market
It’s been a busy summer for storage this year – first EMC acquires Data Domain, and now HP snaps up a clustered storage vendor, IBRIX.
HP would not disclose how much it paid for IBRIX, but I’m sure the investment is well worth it. IBRIX has software called Fusion that lets users build immense clusters of network-attached storage and file servers and manage them globally from a single management interface. The company claims AOL, Monsanto and JPMorgan Chase among its customers.
As I said before – it has been a busy summer for storage. And, I don’t expect it’s over yet – the mania for acquisition is continuing unabated. Dell, for one, has said it is on an acquisition hunt – will the company buy a storage company or another services company to boost its business in that area? What will become of IBRIX competitors Panassas, Permabit and Isilon? And what does it portend for NetApp – will the company be acquired or will it look for another data deduplication vendor?
Also, how will HP integrate IBRIX’ Fusion software with its acquisition of clustered network-attached storage vendor PolyServe? Or will it? The company may think that the market for managing unstructured data on file servers and NAS devices is large enough to have two file-serving clustering products. And, they are probably right.
Already analysts are favorably responding. They say this is a good move for HP and there is room enough in its portfolio for two separate file-serving lines. Some analysts though wonder what the acquisition of IBRIX will mean for PolyServe’s road map.
