HP Buys Archive Guys

Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE: HPQ) today announced plans to acquire data archiving startup Persist Technologies Inc. for an undisclosed amount (see HP to Acquire Persist Technologies).

HP says Persist's technology will buttress its information lifecycle management (ILM) strategy to let customers actively manage information from creation through deletion according to its business relevance. Persist makes an appliance that actively archives of email messages, Microsoft Office documents, and other file types (see Persist Packs Away Email). HP expects the acquisition to close within the next two weeks.

Rusty Smith, HP's director of information lifecycle management, says HP has been working with the startup for about a year and that the two companies have engaged a handful of joint customers.

"We've gotten to know each other quite well," says Smith. "We can see how we can take the resources of HP with the technology that Persist brings to the table and expedite our information lifecycle management strategy." He says the company will deliver an HP-branded version of the Persist appliance shortly after the first of 2004.

Persist's customer list includes ETrade and the U.S. Army, among others that HP and Persist are unable to name. "It's a small number of customers, but they're big customers," says Smith.