IBM is adding to the list of storage technology acquisitions and original innovations by buying Storwize, a data compression company based in Marlborough, Mass. The buyer has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire the company for an undisclosed sum.
IBM says Storwize users can store up to five times more data using the same amount of storage, saving power and cooling costs in addition to the cost of storage devices themselves. In its news release, the company cited research that projected annual growth rate in worldwide demand for storage capacity to be more than 43 percent between 2008 and 2013.
“Real-time data compression helps address a significant client need, making it affordable to analyze and make sense of massive amounts of data in order to provide new services," IBM System Storage and Networking General Manager Brian Truskowski said in a statement. "By adding Storwize to our innovative portfolio of storage solutions, IBM is better equipped than ever to help clients handle growing quantities of data and make more of it available for analytics.”
Storwize’s technology helps reduce storage requirements by up to 80 percent, according to data collected from installed Storwize appliances, although compression rates vary depending on file type and content.
The technology can compress primary data of multiple types, ranging from files to virtualization images and databases, in real time. IBM says other compression technologies available today compress secondary or back-up data only. Storewize’s Random Access Compression Engine is based on industry-standard compression algorithm and uses its patented real-time compression technology.
Storewize currently has more than 100 customers, including Mobileye, Polycom Israel, Shopzilla and Sumitomo Mitsui Construction.
Deal expected to close in the third quarter of 2010.
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Keywords: IBM, Storwize, acquisition, storage compression, data compression, real-time compression | |
