StorageTek Buys Software Vendor

For the second time this week, a storage hardware vendor has acquired a storage software vendor.

On Thursday, officials of Louisville, Colo.-based Storage Technology (StorageTek) said the company has acquired Storability, of Southborough, Mass., which develops software for enterprise storage resource management.

The move follows Breece Hill's acquisition Tuesday of Avail Solutions.

Like Breece Hill, StorageTek is buying one of its storage software partners. StorageTek has been bundling Storability's Global Storage Manager software with its tape libraries, including the L180 and L700, both of which are sold through the channel, said Todd Rief, director of corporate strategy for StorageTek.

Storability itself had no reseller business. Instead, it focused on direct sales and used StorageTek as its only reseller, said Rief.The acquisition helps expand StorageTek's information lifecycle management strategy in three ways, Rief said.

First, the Storability software monitors storage usage -- finding excess capacity as well as too many copies of data that can be deleted to free up space.

Second, the software increases data backup reliability by monitoring the backup success rate of individual servers.

Finally, the software helps optimize long-term compliance and archive solutions, said Rief.