HP buys LeftHand Networks

Hewlett-Packard Co. will acquire LeftHand Networks Inc., a provider of storage and virtualization solutions, for $360 million in cash.

LeftHand Networks' portfolio will extend the Palo Alto, Calif., technology giant's virtualization products to include software that runs on existing storage and server hardware, HP officials said. The software is designed to reduce training time and simplify computing.

The Boulder, Colo., company specializes in Internet SCSI storage-area network technology and manufactures scalable storage software on industry-standard hardware. The company has 215 employees and more than 500 resellers and distributors worldwide.

The transaction is scheduled to close in the first quarter of HP's fiscal 2009, company officials said. After the transaction is completed, the business will become part of the HP Technology Solutions Group's StorageWorks division, they said.

SANs can help clients significantly lower cost, manage data more easily and increase their storage infrastructures gradually as their businesses grow.

HP ranks No. 39 on Washington Technology's 2008 Top 100 list of the largest federal government prime contractors.