AOL has acquired US-based storage outfit Xdrive to meet the "skyrocketing" demand from net users to save their music, pictures and video online.

Financial details concerning the acquisition of the privately-owned company were not disclosed.

Xdrive manages an online, centralised storage platform that gives subscribers access to all their digital assets. The California-based company also provides its subscribers with: storage safety and security; and automatic backup of a wide variety of digital assets - such as music, pictures, and video.

Said Gio Hunt, a bigwig at AOL Digital Services: "The digitisation of consumer home media is skyrocketing, with consumers and AOL members increasingly looking for easier ways to protect and manage a wide variety of important data files and digital media assets.

"Xdrive will further enhance AOL's consumer storage offerings to deliver a more safe and secure digital lifestyle for our members," he said.

The Xdrive transaction is AOL's first major corporate acquisition since Mailblocks and Advertising.com in the summer of 2004. ®

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