Tandberg Data Acquires ProStor to Expand RDX Disk Business

Data storage provider Tandberg Data revealed May 12 that it is in the process of acquiring ProStor Systems' RDX removable disk storage business to augment its own RDX division.

Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Tandberg said that it would retain most of the ProStor engineering staff to go with the company's intellectual property.

Six-year-old ProStor Systems, based in Boulder, Colo., is the inventor and original developer of RDX removable disk IT and the only vendor to offer a multi-tiered storage system based on RDX.

An RDX system combines key elements of hard-disk storage, including random-access performance, high reliability and rapid capacity growth, with the backup and portability benefits of tape, all in a removable cartridge.

RDX has become an industry standard in removable disk storage for backup, data protection and archive. Tandberg Data had already established itself as a market leader in the removable disk market since the introduction of RDX in 2006.

Imation, which partners with Dell in this sector, and Quantum also are the two other major RDX storage vendors.

Tandberg Data is a Germany-based spinoff of Norway's Tandberg, which was acquired by Cisco Systems in 2010 for $3.3 billion for its video-conferencing business.

Tandberg Data also serves as a holding company for its major business line, Tandberg Storage, which designs and makes the RDX drives for OEM sales to the low- and midrange markets.

Tandberg Data also is the only company still selling drives that use the QIC (also known as SLR) and VXA formats. It also produces LTO (Linear Tape-Open) devices along with autoloaders, tape libraries, NAS devices, media and virtual tape libraries.

Tandberg Data said it intends to work closely together with ProStor's current RDX license partners, to further grow the removable disk market through continued investment in the technology.