HP, Dell Shoot for 3Par
Oh, if only Tiger Woods could have delayed the public outing of his indiscretions, we'd be able to make quite a few golf-related jokes here. But with Tiger as stale as a July 4 cake (you have one every year, don't you?), we'll just have to settle for writing about some company called 3Par without making any silly golf references.
After all, we don't know much about golf here at RCPU. We didn't know much about 3Par, either, until today, when news broke that HP and Dell were in a billion-dollar battle to buy the company. Apparently, HP has won the war with a $1.6 billion bid, meaning somebody at 3Par headquarters is swilling champagne right about now.
So, $1.6 billion for a company that does...what, exactly? Well, 3Par makes network-management and storage-virtualization applications, which apparently can play a pretty big role in optimizing cloud-computing environments, particularly cloud storage.
OK, well, that makes sense. Anything that makes cloud computing easier and more cost effective is going to have value for companies like Dell and HP. But this acquisition also makes us wonder: Who else is out there doing this kind of stuff, flying under the radar and waiting for a big-name suitor to come along and finance a few rounds of golf (there it is) for some innovative entrepreneur?
We want to hear from you. Which companies are quietly building themselves up to become the next big players in cloud computing, or the next big buyout targets? Obscure names only please to lpender@rcpmag.com.
Posted by Lee Pender on August 23, 2010