NetApp Acquires Data Center Management Specialist Akorri
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Akorri's BalancePoint analytical software provides automated, infrastructure-wide visibility and analysis to help enterprises fix problems and improve performance.
Network storage maker NetApp bolstered its presence in the
virtualized computing sector Jan. 12 with the announcement that will
acquire data center management software maker Akorri Networks.
NetApp reported that this is an all-cash transaction without disclosing exactly how much cash it was going to spend.
Five-year-old and privately held Akorri, based in Littleton, Mass.,
produces software that IT administrators use to unify -- and make more
efficient -- the management of their own virtualized infrastructures.
Akorri's BalancePoint cross-domain analytical software provides
automated, infrastructure-wide visibility and analysis to help
enterprises fix problems, optimize utilization, and improve performance
for both virtual and physical servers and storage.
NetApp needed this kind of deep virtualization management IP to keep up
with its competitors. The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based storage maker plans
to bundle its software with Akorri's to help immediately in its
never-ending sales battle with storage market arch-enemies EMC, IBM,
and Hewlett-Packard.
Cisco Systems, a partner with EMC, IBM and NetApp but not HP, also markets its own network-centric unifed computing system.
"The acquisition ... of Akorri Networks will help the company [NetApp]
drive unit sales of unified storage," storage analyst Greg Richardson
of Technology Business Research wrote in an advisory. "By leveraging
Akorri's virtualization management portfolio, TBR expects NetApp to
capitalize on Akorri's existing virtualization customer base as a means
to cross-sell.
"Simultaneously, NetApp will pursue opportunities to bundle its
acquired management tools and unified storage for virtual environments
to drive further revenue and margin growth."
Virtualization is clearly the vehicle for NetApp's growth in unified
storage, Richardson said. In 2010, NetApp management reported that more
than 80 percent of storage buildouts in virtualized environments are
built on unified platforms.
"The ability to accurately predict and manage performance and capacity
requirements has been a common obstacle for many customers wanting to
transition to a virtualized environment," said Manish Goel, Executive
Vice President of Product Operations at NetApp. "Akorri strengthens
NetApp's data management capabilities to achieve greater quality of
service and performance in their virtual and cloud environments."
The acquisition is expected to close early this spring.
Chris Preimesberger was named Editor-in-Chief of Features & Analysis at eWEEK in November 2011. Previously he served eWEEK as Senior Writer, covering a range of IT sectors that include data center systems, cloud computing, storage, virtualization, green IT, e-discovery and IT governance. His blog, Storage Station, is considered a go-to information source. Chris won a national Folio Award for magazine writing in November 2011 for a cover story on Salesforce.com and CEO-founder Marc Benioff, and he has served as a judge for the SIIA Codie Awards since 2005. In previous IT journalism, Chris was a founding editor of both IT Manager's Journal and DevX.com and was managing editor of Software Development magazine. His diverse resume also includes: sportswriter for the Los Angeles Daily News, covering NCAA and NBA basketball, television critic for the Palo Alto Times Tribune, and Sports Information Director at Stanford University. He has served as a correspondent for The Associated Press, covering Stanford and NCAA tournament basketball, since 1983. He has covered a number of major events, including the 1984 Democratic National Convention, a Presidential press conference at the White House in 1993, the Emmy Awards (three times), two Rose Bowls, the Fiesta Bowl, several NCAA men's and women's basketball tournaments, a Formula One Grand Prix auto race, a heavyweight boxing championship bout (Ali vs. Spinks, 1978), and the 1985 Super Bowl. A 1975 graduate of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., Chris has won more than a dozen regional and national awards for his work. He and his wife, Rebecca, have four children and reside in Redwood City, Calif.Follow on Twitter: editingwhiz
