Seagate sells R&D group to Xiotech

Seagate is selling its Advanced Storage Architecture (ASA) research and development group to SAN vendor Xiotech in a rather secretive deal.

According to Xiotech, they bought "certain assets" of the business and acquired a license to the associated technology.

No details are being offered about what exactly that technology pertains to. The amount spent on the deal isn't being disclosed either.

The sale may be significant, however, because the ASA group contains some notables in R&D, including several ex-Compaq engineers responsible for what would later become HP's EVA storage line.

"We think that the ASA technology will in time transform the market's perceptions about storage capacity, performance and reliability," said Casey Powell CEO of Xiotech in a statement. "In time, we expect the ASA group to provide significant additional revenue to Xiotech."

Xiotech itself was spun off from Seagate in November 2002, just two years after the storage giant bought the firm for $360m.

As for integration, Ellen Lary, a former consultant to the Seagate ASA group, will serve as VP and general manager of the acquired ASA group. Lary was VP and general manager of Digital Equipment's storage division.

Steve Sicola, general manager of the Seagate ASA group, will become CTO for Xiotech. Sicola was the former CTO of Compaq's (now a part of HP) StorageWorks group. ®