Dell swings into acquisition action with 3Par buyout

Texan PC behemoth snaps up virtualised storage player for $1.15bn

Par for the course: Dell claims the 3Par deal will give it a higher end portfolio

PC giant Dell has bolstered its storage offering with an agreement to acquire 3Par in a $1.15bn (£738m) cash deal.

3Par, based in Fremont, California, prides itself on its thin provisioning and storage virtualisation expertise. Its new owner claims the technology it has developed can reduce customers' data management costs by as much as 50 per cent.

Dell states 3Par will become "an integral part" of its storage portfolio, where it will sit alongside the vendor's PowerVault, EqualLogic and Dell/EMC brands. 3Par, which has been in business 11 years, will benefit from " additional engineering and sales capacity", claims Dell. Operations will remain in California.

Subject to customary closing conditions, the acquisition is expected to close before the end of the year. Brad Anderson, senior vice president of Dell's enterprise product group, claimed the buyout would give his firm a stronger offering in the market's upper echelons.

“We have aligned our storage offerings over the last several years to provide our customers choice and value,” he said. “3PAR brings the same values of performance, agility and ease of use to higher-end, virtualised-storage deployments as EqualLogic does for the entry-level and mid-range, rounding out our industry-leading solutions portfolio."

3Par chief executive David Scott added: "3Par has consistently provided customers with the ability to do more with less. With Dell, we combine a powerful, virtualised storage platform with an outstanding distribution network to deliver this value to an even broader set of customers.”