HP expands storage business with OuterBay buy

Hewlett-Packard has announced plans to expand its storage offerings by acquiring archiving software maker OuterBay Technologies.

OuterBay, based in Cupertino, California, develops archiving software for applications and databases used by corporate customers. The acquisition is HP's latest move in the server, storage and software space and follows on the heels of its AppIQ buyout and $425m Peregrine Systems deal, which were both announced last September.

HP plans to use OuterBay's technology to expand its offerings to customers running Oracle, SQLServer and Sybase databases, in addition to application suites offered by Oracle, its PeopleSoft division and SAP.

"Sixty percent of our HP Integrity server customers are running Oracle applications and databases today, making this a key capability for our existing customers," Bob Schultz, general manager of HP's StorageWorks division, said in a statement.

OuterBay, which employs approximately 60 people, will largely remain intact and be folded into the information lifecycle management (ILM) and storage software business of HP's StorageWorks division.

HP has had a partnership with OuterBay for more than a year, recently involving its Reference Information Manager for Databases, said Frank Harbist, general manager of HP's ILM and storage software business.

"We already have a product road map with OuterBay... but we also plan deeper integration with them in the next quarter or two," Harbist said.

In the meantime, HP will loosely bundle their products together, he noted.

OuterBay also has worked closely with EMC, which served as OuterBay's original equipment manufacturing partner. The companies partnered to deliver a system designed to store and monitor data from the time it is created to when it is archived or deleted.

Although EMC and HP are rivals in the storage market, HP would like to keep OuterBay's relationship with EMC intact, Harbist said.

Financial terms of the OuterBay and HP deal were not disclosed. The acquisition is expected to close within the next two weeks.