Lake Mary, Florida-based storage company nStor Corp is hoping to move into the mid-range Unix market with the purchase of systems integrator Parity Systems Inc. NStor, supplier of third party RAID redundant array of independent disks systems, has a somewhat chequered recent past, having started life as Conner Peripherals Inc’s Storage Systems, before being bought by Seagate Technology Corp, which then decided it did not want to keep it and spun it out as nStor, selling 80% of it to a shell company with cash, Imge Inc (CI No 2,940). The company says the acquisition of Los Gatos, California-based Parity, expands nStor’s product line of fault tolerant disk array subsystems to include high performance storage and data protection systems, including backup and data recovery, hierarchical storage management, visual asset management and compact disc recorder technology. Parity, formed in 1986, has a product line that includes a full range of SCSI storage and memory products for RISC-based Unix workstations and servers. The company also provides systems integration for backup and recovery systems, hierarchical storage, network management and database software. NStor president and chief executive R Daniel Smith said the company was looking to develop strong reseller relationships and lower the cost of ownership of RAID for personal computers, networks and the Unix markets. He said the company will migrate its technology to Parity’s product lines in the coming year. The two operations will also combine to reduce costs. The combined turnover of the two companies is expected to exceed $40m next year, Smith said.
