by Simon Quicke1 October 2008
In a move that will extend its offerings in the lower end of
the storage market Hewlett-Packard has
agreed to buy LeftHand Networks for $360m in cash.
The deal, which is expected to be concluded early next year,
opens up HP to the iSCSI SAN market and can sit alongside HP’s other StorageWorks
products that tap into the mid to high end of the market.
In a statement, Bill Chambers, CEO of LeftHand Networks,
said that the deal would benefit both resellers and customers: “giving them an
extended portfolio of server, storage and networking products and services.”
Dave Robertson, senior vice president and general manager of
HP’s StorageWorks division said the acquisition would provide it with more
options for customers looking for technologies at various price points.
“With our strong channel and leading position in the
industry-standard server market, we are ideally positioned to deliver this
technology to customers worldwide,” he added.
Alan
Brown, business strategy director at Panacea Services, said the deal made
sense.
"It is
not a surprise that HP is looking to strengthen its iSCSI SAN and storage
virtualisation offering as it's an area it doesn't currently have
covered. The acquisition of LeftHand Networks looks like it will be a good
move for HP in an increasingly exciting and competitive market, allowing it to
compete with the likes of Dell EqualLogic,” he said.
