Hewlett-Packard takes acquisition interest in SimpliVity: Report

Hewlett-Packard (HP) is rumoured to be in talks to acquire US-based IT infrastructure startup SimpliVity.

Initial reports by CRN indicated that while details are unclear, and neither HP nor SimpliVity are commenting on the rumour, the acquisition will align closely with HP CEO Meg Whitman's ongoing view on a "new style of IT" which is being driven by social, mobile, cloud, and big data trends.

SimpliVity is known for its flagship Omnicube product, a federated and converged infrastructure platform that combines compute, storage, networking, backup, WAN optimisiation, and cloud integration.

What SimpliVity will be able to bring to HP is a "building block" approach of converged infrastructure with proprietary software running on top, CRN reported.

HP partners told CRN that they believe SimpliVity will boost the company's backup and recovery product portfolio.

"Some of the things SimpliVity is doing around compression and deduplication are very special," Jed Ayres, chief marketing officer at MCPc, a Cleveland-based HP partner, said. "If HP can build that into some of the things they’re doing with 3PAR, that could give them a significant advantage."

SimpliVity has raised US$101.5 million since it was founded in 2009, including a US$58 million in C-round last November, and US$18 million and US$25 million in A and B rounds respectively, according to ArchitectingIT.