Hitachi acquires NAS partner BlueArc

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Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) has gobbled up network storage supplier BlueArc, following a five-year OEM partnership between the two.

BlueArc produces network attached storage (NAS) devices, which have become increasingly popular amongst smaller-sized businesses.

Hitachi said a key reason for the acquisition was a desire to be a key player in the big data market. The vendor wants to help companies transform their traditional data centres into “information centres,” in which it will be easy to “seamlessly store and access all data, content and information.”

Simply put, Hitachi is pointing its crosshairs at the private cloud market.

“Over the past five years, BlueArc has been an integral part of our strategy to help customers store and manage unstructured data of all types, such as video, email, medical imaging, scientific data and more,” said Jack Domme, chief executive (CEO) of HDS.

“Our combined efforts will deliver cost-effective infrastructure cloud and content cloud solutions that customers can take advantage of as they look to further transform their data centres.”

Mike Gustafson, CEO of BlueArc, said the deal was a win-win for the companies and their customers alike.

“We view this as a critical time in information technology, where we will help customers assess and map their business priorities and deliver information services as we work collectively to continue to define next generation information centres amidst the expanding world of file and content,” Gustafson added.

Hitachi did not disclose the terms of the deal but Japan's Asahi newspaper claimed it was worth between $500 and $600 million, according to Reuters.

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