Hitachi Data Systems buys storage firm BlueArc

Hitachi Data Systems (HDS), a wholly owned subsidiary of Hitachi, today said it has acquired network storage firm BlueArc Corp for an undisclosed amount.

Building upon a successful five-year OEM partnership, HDS has completed the acquisition of all outstanding shares of BlueArc in an all-cash transaction, HDS said in a statement.

With this acquisition, HDS will execute its strategy to transform traditional data centres into information centres, where customers can seamlessly store and access all data, content and information, it added.

"The exponential growth of digital content, particularly unstructured content, has had a dramatic effect on all businesses, including the requirements on IT," HDS Chief Executive Officer Jack Domme said.

Bringing BlueArc into the Hitachi family will enable HDS to better serve customers with more tightly integrated technologies, broader capabilities and deeper expertise globally, he added.

"Our combined efforts will deliver cost-effective infrastructure cloud and content cloud solutions that customers can take advantage of as they look to further transform their data centres," Domme said.

Wells Fargo Securities was the exclusive financial advisor to Hitachi Data Systems on the buyout, while BofA Merrill Lynch acted as financial advisor and Credit Suisse as co-advisor to BlueArc, the statement said.