Enterprise software giant EMC has just acquired Isilon Systems for $2.25 billion in cash or appoximately $33.85 per share. The deal was rumored to be in the works but now it’s official.
Isilon is know for its “Scale-out NAS” storage systems, which offer customers a highly scalable, low-cost storage infrastructure for managing “Big Data.” Clients who need Isilon’s data storage capabilities include those in life sciences (e.g. gene sequencing), media and entertainment (e.g. online streaming), and oil and gas (e.g. seismic interpretation).
Isilon’s systems can scale to 10 petabytes in size. EMC says its own storage product Atmos will be complimentary to Isilon’s offerings. Currently, EMC has a 20 percent market share in the storage space, so this should only help boost that position. EMC expects the combined revenue of the two storage offerings to reach a $1 billion run-rate during the second half of 2012. That’s big money for EMC.
Data Storage is definitely a hot target in the enterprise space. HP and Dell recently got into a bidding war for data storage company 3PAR. HP eventually won, acquiring 3PAR for $2.4 billion.
Since 2009, EMC has acquired Greenplum, Archer Technologies, SourceLabs, FastScale Technology, Data Domain, Configuresoft and Varonis Systems.