History (1999): For $340 Million, Dell Buys ConvergeNet

PC maker Dell Computer continues to invest heavily in storage. The firm has definitively acquired privately-held ConvergeNet Technologies, San Jose, CA for roughly $340 million in stock, a great price for ConvergeNet when you consider that the company has yet to ship a single product.

The company, which was founded only 2 years ago, and is comprised of a considerable number of veterans from HP, StorageTek and Sun, offers expertise in heterogeneous environment SANs, with its Storage Domain Manager.

Dell will soon be able to propose storage solutions for Intel or RISC-based servers running Unix, Solaris, Windows NT and 2000, NetWare or Linux OSs, in other words, in those platforms covered by rivals Compaq and Sun.

Dick Watts, president and CEO of ConvergeNet, will become VP and GM of Dell’s storage systems division, reporting to SVP Michael Lambert.

Dell also took a minority stake in the Bulldog Group, a storage software company that helps firms keep track of digital information stored for broadcast TV.

This article is an abstract of news published on issue 141 on October 1999 from the former paper version of Computer Data Storage Newsletter.