NetApp acquires backup-software firm

Storage specialist Network Appliance has signed an agreement to acquire Alacritus Software, a Pleasanton, Calif.-based company whose products give hard-drive-based storage systems the appearance of a tape-based system. NetApp, based in Sunnyvale, Calif., will pay $11 million in cash for Alacritus in a deal expected to close by the end of April, the company said Thursday.

Alacritus' software, certified to work with tape-backup software from Bakbone, Computer Associates, CommVault Dntz, EMC's Legato, IBM and Veritas, is useful for the increasingly popular technique of using hard drive systems to archive corporate data more quickly than is possible with tape.