Legato Systems to Acquire Intelliguard Software

With the increased dependency of business on computer data, the need to protect and manage data without disruption to business-critical applications has become a major concern to IT managers. Legato Systems Inc. plans to offer storage area network (SAN) products as a solution to this problem.

As part of this strategy, Legato will acquire Intelliguard Software Inc., a developer of standards-based storage management products for SANs. The integration of Intelliguard's technology will extend Legato's product lines into remote data and server-less backup.

Intelliguard is the developer of the Celestra architecture that is a server-less backup for the SAN market. Intelliguard also co-developed the network data management protocol (NDMP), which is being adopted as an industry standard for management of network attached storage (NAS). Vendors that have already endorsed the NDMP protocol include EMC, StorageTek, Network Appliance, and Veritas.

The cash and stock transaction is valued at approximately $52 million, based on Legato's January 27, closing price, and is scheduled to close in March 1999.