Dell to Acquire Storage Vendor EqualLogic

Published: November 7, 2007

by Alex Woodie

Computer maker Dell this week announced plans to snap up EqualLogic, a developer of iSCSI storage solutions that was getting ready to launch its IPO, for $1.4 billion.

EqualLogic, which is based in Nashua, New Hampshire, sells software and hardware designed to make it easy for organizations to consolidate their disparate storage devices onto a single storage platform that connects back to their computer--either through a storage area network (SAN) or using the network attached storage (NAS) approach.

EqualLogic's secret sauce resides in its "peer storage" architecture, a patented approach that it claims greatly streamlines much of the work that must be done to set up a network-based storage architecture, and then run it efficiently. The company uses this technology in its PS line of storage devices, which are equipped with inexpensive SATA disks and range from the entry-level PS50E box, which offers 1.75 TB of storage, up to the PS3900XV, a high-end, 16-drive storage device that offers 4.8 TB of RAID proteced storage.

Michael Dell, chairman, CEO, and founder of the Round Rock, Texas, company, said the acquisition will help Dell address the growing storage needs of its customers. "Our customers will be dealing with the largest increase in data we have seen in our history over the next few years," he said.

Dell plans to pay EqualLogic about $1.4 billion in cash. The acquisition is expected to close during the fourth quarter of Dell's fiscal year 2008, which ends February 2, or early in the first quarter of fiscal 2009.

Dell said it plans to continue EqualLogic's sales channel programs when the takeover is complete. It also plans to incorporate EqualLogic's technology into future generations of its PowerVault line of storage products.

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