Thursday, 9 February 2006

HP to Acquire OuterBay

HP has agreed to acquire OuterBay, a California based provider of archiving software for enterprise applications and databases.

With OuterBay’s technology, HP can help organizations to more effectively manage database growth and improve database performance by up to 80 percent.

The technology additionally will enable HP to expand its solutions for customers deploying Oracle, SQLServer, and Sybase databases as well as major enterprise applications such as Oracle E-Business Suite, SAP and PeopleSoft.

"OuterBay builds on HP’s enterprise portfolio to help companies get more from their mission-critical database environments," said Bob Schultz, senior vice president and general manager, StorageWorks division, HP. "Sixty percent of our HP Integrity server customers are running Oracle applications and databases today, making this a key capability for our existing customers."

The transaction also creates opportunity for HP’s enterprise business in the database archiving market and also complements the company’s data protection, email archiving and file movement technologies.

"HP and OuterBay share a common vision for delivering comprehensive database and ILM solutions," said Michael Howard, chairman and chief executive officer, OuterBay. "As part of HP’s family of solutions, OuterBay will help customers address the dual challenge of data retention and growth with a complete systems approach."

Headquartered in Cupertino, California, OuterBay has approximately 60 employees and offices in the US, UK and India.

Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is subject to certain closing conditions and is expected to be completed within the next two weeks. Following completion, OuterBay will be substantially integrated into the StorageWorks division of HP’s Technology Solutions Group.