Disk drive maker Seagate Technology Inc has struck a deal to acquire storage area networking firm Xiotech Corp for $360m in Seagate common stock. Xiotech, based in Eden Prairie, Minnesota, designs and manufactures high-performance application-driven storage systems. Its flagship Magnitude product provides 3TB of centralized storage which the company says can be accessed by multiple servers in a heterogeneous environment and is optimized for SAN applications.
Privately-held Xiotech sells its products to major corporate clients both directly and through a group of resellers and OEM partners. In October, the four-year-old company closed a $20m round of venture funding. Scotts Valley, California-based Seagate expects the acquisition to close next quarter and will account for it as a purchase.
For Seagate, the acquisition comes as part of its overall push into the SAN arena. Last month, the company announced that it was part of a group cooperating to develop compatible, off the shelf fibre channel SAN equipment. Other members of the SANPower channel program include Bell Microproducts, ATTO, CS Electronics, Gadzoox Networks, Mercury, Mylex, Qlogic, Veritas Software and Xyratex.
