WD expands enterprise flash storage portfolio by acquiring Virident

Today, Western Digital announced that it has acquired Virident Systems, a key player in the enterprise flash storage industry. The announcement says that the two companies have entered into a definitive merger agreement where Virident will be acquired by HSGT, a subsidiary owned by Western Digital.

2

"We have established a competitive position in the enterprise SSD space and with our recently announced acquisitions we are increasing our commitment to become an even more significant player in this high growth segment," said Steve Milligan, president and chief executive officer, Western Digital. "Virident has a proven leadership team and a culture of innovation. Its combination of great people, leading products and advanced technology will enhance our increasingly strategic position in enterprise storage."

Western Digital has reportedly paid approximately $685 million in cash for Virident, of which $645 million represents the enterprise value of Virident. Western Digital says that Virident CEO Mike Gustafson will join HGST as a senior vice president and will head up the Virident team under HSGT President Mike Cordano.

"The Virident acquisition is a continuation of HGST's strategy to address customers' rapidly changing storage needs by delivering intelligent storage devices that tightly integrate hardware and software to maximize solution performance," said Cordano. "Virident's server-side flash storage helps datacenter customers solve their most significant data infrastructure challenges, including application performance across diverse workloads, power efficiency, and total cost of ownership. We welcome the Virident team to HGST and look forward to further accelerating their momentum."

2

"The Virident vision is centered on leading the flash platform transformation. This includes advancing adoption of server-side flash storage, software and solutions in next-generation datacenters. Bringing technology leadership and substantial business advantage to customers is our mission and drives our team every day," said Gustafson. "I want to recognize and thank our employees and founders for the combination of vision and execution. We are excited to join HGST and accelerate the growth of our business, partnerships and value."