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Innovation

NetApp buys Riverbed Technology's Steelstore business

The $80 million cash deal will allow the network data storage provider to expand the flexibility of its data backup and protection services.
Written by Natalie Gagliordi, Contributor

NetApp is buying the SteelStore product line from Riverbed Technology for $80 million in a bid to expand the flexibility of its data backup and protection services.

The Steelstore line gives enterprises the ability to back up data to the cloud option of their choice, and allows them to reduce data volumes by deduplicating, encrypting and streaming data to the cloud.

The SteelStore products support both NetApp and third-party storage infrastructures, as well as a full set of third-party backup software and cloud providers.

The acquisition will allow NetApp to offer end-to-end security for both data at rest and data in motion between cloud environments, which the the network data storage provider said will help its customers avoid vendor lock-in and reduce management costs.

"This product, coupled with our broad ecosystem of application and cloud service providers, will give enterprises a heterogeneous backup solution to leverage the flexibility and economics of the cloud for their backup and recovery needs," said NetApp chief strategy officer Jonathan Kissane, in a statement.

Riverbed CEO Jerry Kennelly said the decision to divest the product line is a sound transaction for both companies, and that it allows Riverbed to "deliver the best solutions in the application performance infrastructure market for today's hybrid enterprise."

"The acquisition is a very logical extension to NetApp, a leader in data management and storage, and allows NetApp customers to extend existing backup, archive, and disaster recovery to the cloud," Kennelly added.

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