Adaptec RAIDs Old Europe

Adaptec Inc. (Nasdaq: ADPT), looking to strengthen its presence in Europe, has acquired ICP Vortex Computersysteme GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intel Corp. (Nasdaq: INTC), for an undisclosed sum (see Adaptec Buys ICP Vortex From Intel).

ICP Vortex sells hardware and software RAID products for SCSI, Serial ATA (SATA), and Fibre Channel disks. The company, which has 45 employees, is based near Stuttgart in Neckarsulm, Germany [ed. note: "a town with a high standard of living," according to its Website -- and kostenlos parken!].

"They have an excellent presence in EMEA, specifically Germany, and really strong brand recognition," says Adaptec spokesman Andrew McCarthy. "It's a great opportunity for us to pick up a strong team of people." He adds that the purchase price is immaterial.

Adaptec says it plans to continue the ICP Vortex operations in Europe and will continue to support its existing product lines. But over time, McCarthy says it will "look for synergies" between Adaptec's existing product portfolio and ICP Vortex's. Adaptec sells its own lines of SCSI and SATA RAID controllers.

ICP Vortex, founded in 1990, was acquired by Intel in March 2001 but functioned as an independent subsidiary.At least initially, not much will change except the name tags: Intel says it will continue to source its RAID products from ICP Vortex and Adaptec.

"Basically, [selling ICP Vortex] is consistent with our strategy of optimizing Intel's product portfolio and focusing more on the silicon building blocks," says Intel spokeswoman Laura Anderson.

In March, Adaptec bought Eurologic Systems, a developer of external and networked storage products, for $30 million in cash (see Adaptec Adopts Eurologic).

Todd Spangler, US Editor, Byte and Switch