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In the latest storage industry move to support new federal technology regulations, Hewlett-Packard Co. will begin reselling Legato Systems Inc.s e-mail archiving and virtualization software next week, HP officials said Friday.
HP will sell new bundles for all of its storage hardware, called HP/Legato Email Archiving and Management Service and HP/Legato Data Archiving Service, said Mark Sorenson, vice president and general manager of the Palo Alto, Calif., firms storage software division.
The bundles use Legatos EmailXtender and DiskXtender software, he said in an interview today. Also, “We have entered into a memorandum of understanding to explore an even deeper and unique relationship around sales and technology,” with talks already underway, he added.
Pricing was not available, but HPs bundle will essentially cost the same as buying directly from Legato, Sorenson said. The bundling is for user convenience, he said. “Customers want HP to send a signal, to take a stand” on which third-party companys archiving software is best, and “Legato fairs very, very well versus others,” he said.
Legato, of Mountain View, Calif., has long been for sale. Sorenson declined to comment on whether the expanded partnership is a trial marriage of the companies, but it is “a very logical assumption” that HP is sure no one else will buy Legato first, he said.
“An M.O.U. is always a first step… Certainly their acquisition of OTG last year has brought them some very interesting technologies,” Sorenson continued. Legato in its current situation is “very compelling,” he added.
Tony Prigmore, analyst with Enterprise Storage Group Inc., in Milford, Mass., said there is no imminent change in Legatos independent status. “We believe Legato is interested in doing a partnership with HP because HP has the largest install base of Exchange users, the largest knowledge base of Exchange professionals. What happens beyond that is a possibility wide open to speculation.”
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