HDS, IBM Both Acquire Data Protection Software Vendors
Hitachi Data Systems and IBM this week both acquired small storage software developers as a way to enhance their overall storage capabilities.
HDS has acquired San Diego-based Cofio, a small developer of software that protects and manages data from remote devices to the cloud.
IBM acquired Butterfly Software, a U.K.-based developer of software for analyzing and migrating backup and storage data.
[Related: Quest Acquisition Opens Door For Dell To Focus On Complete Solutions, Not Parts ]
Sean Moser, HDS vice president, unveiled his company's acquisition of Cofio in a blog post in which he wrote that HDS was looking for more than a backup company.
San Diego-based Cofio is the developer of AIMstor, a software application the company said manages and protects all types of data from a customer's laptop to the server, the remote office and the cloud. AIMstor is a hardware-agnostic application and runs on any storage platform under Windows or Linux.
Cofio's AIMstor combines backup and recovery, archiving, continuous data protection, bare metal restore and real-time replication in a single unified management system. Customers can use any or all of those tools as part of their data protection process.
Moser, in his blog post, wrote that traditional ways of thinking about storage are not working because IT teams rely on a host of disparate tools for such tasks as data recovery, disaster recovery, archiving, enhancing performance and migrating data.
The acquisition of Cofio is HDS' answer to these challenges, Moser wrote.
"The Cofio acquisition is part of a longer term data protection vision that goes beyond the existing 'backup' paradigm," he wrote. "We envision a comprehensive solution that integrates backup, archive and storage platform-based replication technologies. To realize this vision, we will be integrating Cofio technology with the high performance of storage-based data protection to meet our customers’ current and future needs."
Over time, HDS plans to centralize the management of data in a single solution that will consolidate, reduce, manage and track data copies to cut data management costs and increase efficiency, Moser wrote.
IBM unveiled its acquisition of Butterfly Software, in a very short press release that provided few details about its plans for that company.
NEXT: IBM Acquires Butterfly Software
Butterfly Software develops applications that help businesses discover, analyze and automatically migrate data center infrastructures. The company's Butterfly Suite of software can consolidate all enterprise data onto the most efficient and effective strategic technology, regardless of vendor.
Prior to the acquisition, Butterfly had partnerships with IBM, EMC, Dell and Hewlett Packard. Its software was distributed globally via Arrow ECS.
Neither HDS nor IBM offered financial details of their acquisitions.
The two acquisitions are only the latest in a series of moves by hardware vendors to add storage software to their product lines.
Dell this summer acquired Quest, a provider of a full portfolio of storage, security and management software platforms that Dell plans to use to show it is becoming a provider of complete solutions and not just the parts.
HP in 2009 acquired IBRIX, a developer of file-serving software that provides data protection, management and availability to scale-out and cloud computing environments.
EMC in 2006 acquired Avamar, a developer of deduplication software.
HDS and IBM did not respond to requests for further information.
PUBLISHED SEPT. 25, 2012