SanDisk Buys Smart Storage to Boost Enterprise Lineup

Flash memory maker SanDisk (SNDK) expects its completed acquisition of Smart Storage, a transaction initiated in early July for some $307 million in cash and incentives, will provide a boost to the company’s enterprise storage sales and its OEM business, according to Sanjay Mehrotra, SanDisk president and chief executive officer.

Smart Storage, which specializes in enterprise solid state drives (SSDs) based on the SATA and SAS storage protocols, will be folded into SanDisk’s Enterprise Storage Solutions unit led by John Scaramuzzo. Smart Storage’s 250 employees have joined SanDisk, the company said.

Scaramuzzo, formerly Smart Storage’s president and a 25-year industry veteran with stints at heavyweights Digital Equipment, Maxtor, Seagate (STX) and Quantum (QTM) carries the official title of storage solutions senior vice president, reporting to Mehrotra. He leads a group that features Smart Storage’s products, technology and talent melded with SanDisk’s existing SSD and software products, vertical integration, scale, market reach and financial strength, officials said.

Sumit Sadana, SanDisk executive vice president and chief strategy officer, said Smart Storage better positions the vendor to address the enterprise SATA market, which it pegs at a $1.6 billion market opportunity. Smart Storage’s SATA and SAS enterprise SSD products are framed on its Guardian Technology, which extends the native endurance of NAND flash memory and improves reliability.

“This acquisition enables SanDisk to address a large market opportunity in enterprise SATA products, and complements our strong enterprise SAS product portfolio. With this combination, SanDisk will have enterprise SSDs qualified with six of the top seven storage OEMs worldwide,” said Mehrotra.

The Smart Storage acquisition marks SanDisk’s fourth in the past two years, preceded by purchases of Plaint in 2011, and FlashSoft and Schooner Information Technology last year. For its quarter ended May 31, Smart Storage posted $25 million in sales, SanDisk said. The purchase is expected to be accretive to SanDisk earnings in 2014.