SGI Buys Assets of Bankrupt Copan Systems

SGI, which in April 2009 became a combination of Rackable Systems and the original Silicon Graphics, announced Feb. 23 that it has purchased the assets of Copan Systems, a bankrupt provider of high-performance storage archive solutions, for about $2 million in cash.

Copan was known within the industry for its MAID (Massive Array of Idle Disks) storage software platform. However, the company struggled in recent years and couldn't make a go of it in the increasingly crowded enterprise storage business.

Copan had received its final influx of venture capital, $18.5 million, in February 2009, led by Westbury Partners. In about a decade in business, Copan Systems raised more than $100 million in venture funding before declaring bankruptcy in fall 2009.

SGI, known for high-performance clustered computing and storage, bought Copan's assets in a private foreclosure sale from Copan's secured creditors, SGI said. SGI took over none of Copan's debt and assumed only a limited number of liabilities.

The company also said Copan's offices in Longmont, Colo., will be retained and that it intends to hire select Copan employees.

SGI bought Copan for its highly scalable, energy-efficient enterprise [MAID] platform. Copan MAID, unlike many other storage systems, enables customers to access disk-to-disk and virtual tape library (VTL) capabilities in the management of large data sets.

"I am delighted to welcome Copan's employees and customers to SGI," SGI CEO Mark Barrenechea said in a statement. "The need for real-time access to long-term persistent data is expected to continue to expand. This acquisition will allow SGI to participate directly in this market."