Imation buys Nexsan to get into enterprise storage market

Storage giant Imation is diving deeper into the enterprise market this year through the acquisition of Nexsan Corporation.

Like Imation, Nexsan produces disk-based storage systems. The company also comes with a portfolio of hybrid disk-and-solid-state storage systems and more than 11,000 customers worldwide.

In the announcement published on Wednesday, Imation made its intentions for Nexsan's solutions and resources fairly clear, specifying that the goal of this merger is to "significantly accelerate Imation’s growth in the small and medium-sized business (SMB) and distributed enterprise (SME) storage markets."

Imation CEO and president Mark Lucas added in prepared remarks that Imation is "targeting markets with strong growth rates" as it ramps up its efforts around tiered storage and security.

Our strategy includes focusing on the underserved SMB market with purpose-built storage systems and appliances. This is a market that Nexsan knows well. Nexsan’s management team has grown this business from start-up to more than $80 million, with strong gross margins. Nexsan is a successful company that is addressing some of today’s fastest growing trends in storage, and we are pleased that its management team, including CEO Philip Black, will join Imation. The combination of Nexsan’s products, technologies, and talented teams with Imation’s global reach and infrastructure will be an excellent accelerator for our growth strategy in storage solutions.

Imation is paying approximately $105 million in cash along with 3,319,324 Imation common shares, which is said to be the equivalent of roughly $15 million. The deal is expected to be completed during the first quarter.

Based in Thousand Oaks, Calif., Nexsan's employee base of approximately 200 workers across the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada will join Imation. But the Nexsan unit will continue to operate from its headquarters in Southern California.