PALO ALTO, Calif., Feb. 11 – VMware, Inc., the global leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure, today announced it has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Virsto Software, a Sunnyvale, Calif.-based provider of software that optimizes storage performance and utilization in virtual environments.

"VMware is committed to continuing to deliver software innovations that bring significant efficiencies to our customers while simplifying infrastructure and IT," said John Gilmartin, vice president of storage and availability, VMware. "We believe that the acquisition of Virsto will accelerate our development of storage technologies, allowing our customers to greatly improve the efficiency and performance of storage in virtual infrastructure."

Organizations are looking for solutions to address the increasing complexity and cost of storage within virtual and cloud environments, particularly for virtual desktop infrastructures (VDI), large software development and test centers and to support business-critical applications. Virsto provides breakthrough storage optimization technologies that improve storage performance and utilization in these environments. When implemented within a VDI, Virsto can reduce the cost of storage per desktop by as much as 70 percent.

As part of its strategy to deliver the software-defined datacenter, VMware continues to invest and innovate to extend the benefits of virtualization to every domain in the datacenter -- compute, network, storage and the associated security and availability services. VMware has been at the forefront of innovations to storage in virtual environments, and the acquisition of Virsto will expand VMware's storage portfolio, which includes the storage virtualization and management capabilities of VMware vSphere and the VMware vSphere Storage Appliance. In addition, EMC Corporation plans to license the Virsto technology, extending the cooperative efforts between the two companies in storage architectures.

"VMware and Virsto share a highly aligned vision to remove complexity and increase efficiencies through virtualization," said Mark Davis, CEO, Virsto. "We are excited to combine forces with VMware to provide customers a more cost-effective, efficient, and agile storage architecture."

Terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. The acquisition is scheduled to close in the first quarter of 2013 subject to customary closing conditions.

About Virsto

Virsto Software Corporation changes the economics of storage in virtualized environments by improving utilization, increasing performance, and accelerating VM storage provisioning. Virsto reduces the cost and complexity of storage for VDI, test and development, business-critical application virtualization, cloud computing and other virtualization initiatives. Founded in 2007, Virsto is backed by leading Silicon Valley venture firms.

About VMware

VMware is the leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era. Customers rely on VMware to help them transform the way they build, deliver and consume Information Technology resources in a manner that is evolutionary and based on their specific needs. With 2012 revenues of $4.61 billion, VMware has more than 480,000 customers and 55,000 partners.

VMware, vSphere, and vSphere Storage Appliance are registered trademarks or trademarks of VMware, Inc. in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks and names mentioned herein may be trademarks of their respective companies.

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Source: VMware