HPE To Acquire Zerto For $374M To Boost GreenLake, Storage

‘Zerto’s market-leading cloud data management and protection software expands HPE GreenLake cloud data services, allowing customers to protect their data and rapidly act on insights, from edge to cloud,’ says HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri.

Hewlett Packard Enterprise is continuing to take HPE GreenLake to the next level with the deal Thursday to acquire cloud data management and storage protection specialist Zerto for $374 million in cash. The news comes just two weeks after HPE unveiled its acquisition of artificial intelligence startup Determined AI.

HPE’s acquisition of Zerto is expected to add more than $130 million in run-rate revenue at software gross margins for the infrastructure and PC giant as HPE continues its storage shift to cloud-native, software-defined data services business.

“Data is now the most critical asset,” said HPE President and CEO Antonio Neri. “With the explosive growth of data at the edge and across hybrid environments, organizations today face significant complexity in managing and protecting their data. Zerto’s market-leading cloud data management and protection software expands HPE GreenLake cloud data services, allowing customers to protect their data and rapidly act on insights, from edge to cloud.”

Zerto, which made CRN’s 100 Coolest Cloud Computing Companies of 2021, is a provider of journal-based continuous data protection technology including disaster recovery, backup and data mobility in a single cloud data management and protection software offering that spans on-premises, hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Last year, Zerto raised $53 million in financing aimed at accelerating innovation.

[Related: Look For ‘Much More’ HPE GreenLake Lead-Generation, Co-Selling: HPE GreenLake GM Keith White]

Founded in 2009, Zerto will become available through HPE GreenLake’s highly successful and growing as-a-service portfolio of cloud services. Zerto has 500 employees and serves more than 9,000 customers, including enterprises and 350 MSPs.

The Boston and Israel-based company helps customers recover in minutes from ransomware, cyberattacks and other unplanned downtime, according to HPE. Zerto also easily replicates and migrates data between VMware vSphere and Microsoft Hyper-V environments and natively to Amazon Web Services and Microsoft Azure.

HPE expects to close the Zerto acquisition in the fourth quarter of the company’s fiscal year 2021.

With IT research firm IDC predicting the Data-Protection-as-a-Service market to grow from $7.7 billion in 2020 to $15.3 billion in 2024, representing a 19 percent annual increase, the need for customers to protect their data is top of mind, said Tom Black, senior vice president and general manager of HPE Storage.

“With data underpinning digital transformation, customers must manage, protect and mobilize their data,” said Black in a statement. “Customers continue to face significant issues managing data complexity across hybrid and multi-cloud environments. Zerto further positions HPE to help solve these customer challenges and become the leader in data management and protection through HPE GreenLake cloud services.”

After the transaction closes, Zerto will be organized under HPE Storage.