IBM continues storage land grab with Diligent acquisition

Gets EMC's old R&D hands

Big Blue has made yet another storage buy, this time scooping up privately-held Diligent Technologies for an undisclosed sum, although rumors peg the price at $200m.

The company, which has in recent months been on a considerable storage spending spree, said today that the Framingham, Massachusetts and Tel Aviv, Israel-based de-duplication software specialist will be folded into IBM's System Storage biz unit.

This acquisition is IBM's third swoop on an Israel-based outfit in as many months. Just last week it swallowed up FilesX, which has operations in Haifa and Newton, Massachusetts.

IBM's storage beefery comes as it makes a grab for Web 2.0 apps, digital archives, and digital media.

IBM's system storage general manager Andy Monshaw said: "Diligent's data de-duplication software is a critical technology that will be integrated into the IBM Storage portfolio to further extend our information infrastructure strategy, allowing our clients to eliminate redundant data and streamline the infrastructure required to support their business – which can result in dramatic improvements in data centre efficiency."

Diligent's de-duplication technology will be slotted into IBM's new enterprise data centre model, the mantra of which is heavily-loaded with the industry’s favourite buzzwords – virtualisation, green IT, and cloud computing.

The startup has a number of reseller deals with other storage vendors that use Diligent's ProtecTier software including Overland, HDS, and Sun. It's not known at this stage how IBM will handle these agreements under the merger, which is subject to the normal regulatory requirements.

Diligent, which has secured close to $47m in fundage, previously served as EMC's Israel research and development lab before being spun-out from the the storage firm in 2002.

Over the past few months acquisition-hungry IBM has bought Softek, NovusCG, XIV, Arsenal Digital Solutions, and FilesX. ®