NetApp is acquiring Riverbed Technology's SteelStore line of cloud storage appliances for US$80 million ($90.3 million).
The all-cash deal will help bolster NetApp's own cloud backup and storage offerings with new capabilities for deduplicating, encrypting and rapidly streaming data to the cloud.
Riverbed's SteelStore product, which until May was branded as 'Whitewater,' is a cloud-integrated backup solution that combines an on-premises cache with a backup cloud. It uses Riverbed's core WAN optimisation technology to accelerate cloud data access and protection.
Phil Brotherton, NetApp vice president of cloud solutions, said the back end for SteelStore could be a public cloud, private cloud or even an internal storage grid.
Brotherton was unable to provide much detail about NetApp's plans for integrating the SteelStore solution into the NetApp line. "But the product fits the channel well as it is," he said.
SteelStore supports a range of cloud providers, including Amazon Web Services, Google and Windows Azure, along with a mix of backup and archiving applications.
NetApp and Riverbed have a number of technology partners in common including Symantec, CommVault and Veeam. A NetApp spokesperson told CRN US by email that the company will continue to work with those partners to further the integration of SteelStore with their own solutions.
Riverbed earlier this month said it's restructuring and starting to explore strategic options in response to mounting pressure from activist investor Elliott Management.
NetApp said it will start offering the SteelStore products in its fiscal third quarter of 2015.
Riverbed, in an online FAQ, said responsibility for future sales of its SteelStore appliances will be transferred to NetApp on 28 October. NetApp and Riverbed have agreed to a joint support structure during the transition period, and customers can get support through their existing support contacts.
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