Softek was spun out of Fujitsu Ltd in 2004, via a management buy-out. It claims over 800 customers among the very largest corporations on the planet.

While Softek’s software portfolio includes snapshot and other disaster recovery tools, its principal business is selling software that allows data to be moved between multiple brands of disk array, while remaining online. There are other suppliers offering the same migration capabilities. But David Hill, analyst at the Mesabi Group, said that Softek’s software is very good.

He added that the company’s rigorously agnostic approach was part of the reason why Softek won OEM deals with EMC Corp, Hewlett-Packard Co, Sun Microsystems Inc via StorageTek, as well as IBM itself. Those deals are unlikely to be affected by the acquisition, he said.

This purchase made good horse sense for IBM. It’s a classic acquisition a small company with a good product but limited prospects because of its point focus being bought by a larger company, Hill said. IBM said that it will fold Softek into its storage and data services division. Like other vendors it will use the Softek software as part of a service, and will also sell it is as a standalone product.

The deal is expected to close in this calendar quarter. No financial details were disclosed.