Sun Microsystems Completes Acquisition of StorageTek
August 31 2005 - 5:15PM
PR Newswire (US)
Sun's $4.1 Billion Investment in StorageTek Creates New Global
Powerhouse in Storage Industry SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 31
/PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sun Microsystems, Inc. (NASDAQ:SUNW)
today announced it has completed its acquisition of StorageTek
(NASDAQ:STK) following approval of StorageTek stockholders. Under
the terms of the agreement, StorageTek stockholders will receive
$37 per share in cash for each StorageTek share for an aggregate
value of approximately $4.1 billion, including the assumption of
employee stock options. Trading of StorageTek common stock has been
suspended. "By combining with StorageTek and leveraging its 35
years of leadership in the storage and data management market with
Sun's 24 years in network computing solutions, Sun becomes an
instant heavyweight in the global storage market," said Scott
McNealy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Sun Microsystems,
Inc. "Few companies are better positioned to help enterprises
manage the complexities of information management. StorageTek knows
how to store it and Sun knows how to put that data to work better
than any other company on the planet." The Sun-StorageTek
combination: * Creates a global leader in network computing and
data management with combined revenues of $13.3 billion for the
last 12 months, and whose products hold 36% of the world's total
archived data; * Instantly expands the addressable customer base,
providing significant new channels for each company's products and
services around the globe; * Provides customers with flexibility
and choice in storage and data management offerings for
heterogeneous environments, coupled with robust identity management
and security solutions, drawing upon the combined companies' long
history of innovation and proven data center expertise; * Delivers
shareholder value through access to significant growth
opportunities in the storage market and an expanded sales force
with a broader product and services portfolio. With the close of
the acquisition, StorageTek becomes a part of Sun's Data Management
Group (DMG), formerly named Sun's Network Storage Group (NWS). This
newly formed organization will be led by Mark Canepa, Executive
Vice President, Data Management Group. Canepa, a 30 year tech
veteran, has put the vision, strategy and leadership team in place
to leverage Sun's powerful new position in the global storage
market. The DMG consists of three distinct business units -- Disk,
Tape, and ILMS (Information Lifecycle Management Solutions) -- that
are supported by world-class storage sales and services
organizations, as well as data management experts committed to
innovation in software, hardware and solutions development. The DMG
leadership team is comprised of former StorageTek executives from
sales, services and product development and marketing, along with
members of Sun's storage team. Leading the three key business units
are: Kathleen Holmgren, Vice President, Disk Business; Nigel
Dessau, Vice President, Tape Business; and Brenda Zawatski, Vice
President, ILMS Business. The business units will be supported with
world-class storage sales and services organizations, led by
Michael McClay, Vice President of Data Management Sales, and Eula
Adams, Vice President, Data Management Services. Dessau, Zawatski,
McClay and Adams join Sun from StorageTek. In marking the close of
the acquisition Canepa said, "Combining our strength in network
identity with the world's deepest core competence in data archiving
and information lifecycle management is a sweet spot that
competitors simply cannot match. The intersection of the two is
where our customers are headed, and where we plan to lead the
industry." Canepa continued, "I am thoroughly impressed with the
top notch leadership team cultivated at StorageTek. Sun is very
fortunate to have the opportunity to bring many of the company's
key executives to the DMG leadership team and I'm confident that
they will be making critical contributions to our future success in
delivering solutions that meet out customers' storage and data
management challenges." StorageTek's former CEO, Pat Martin, will
not be joining the combined company. With the combined portfolios
of two industry leaders, Sun now has all the building blocks to
bring real value to information lifecycle management (ILM),
including award-winning automated tape solutions, leading software
and disk arrays, a comprehensive identity management product suite
for virtually unmatched security, and leading-edge virtualization
solutions. Based on lessons learned in heterogeneous mainframe and
open systems environments, Sun will continue to develop repeatable
methodologies, blueprints, and reference architectures that support
all enterprises. Sun and StorageTek are synergistic in product sets
and solutions with very little overlap. The disk and management
software areas are where product collaboration can be achieved and
Sun expects to do this within the next two months. Industry
Analysts, Partners and Customers Praise Combination: "Sun's
acquisition of StorageTek creates a new player in the storage
industry. The strength of StorageTek's data protection and recovery
solutions and global, storage-focused sales specialists combined
with Sun's more complete set of primary storage solutions creates
an end-to-end set of multi- platform offerings and capabilities
that is substantially better prepared to meet today's demanding and
varied storage requirements," said John McArthur, Group Vice
President and General Manager of IDC's Information Infrastructure
division. "Symantec has a long-standing partnership and strong
software OEM/reseller business with both StorageTek and Sun," said
Niall Wall, Vice President, Business Development and Alliances,
Symantec. "We are excited about the synergies we expect from Sun's
acquisition of StorageTek since this will allow us to combine Sun's
leading server and storage assets with Symantec's data, storage and
server management, availability and security software to deliver
world class enterprise solutions." "Data storage systems and
software from Sun and StorageTek have allowed us to deliver
effective, cost-efficient storage and retrieval of massive
quantities of patient data," said Dr. Robert Cecil, Network
Director, Radiology and Cardiology for the Cleveland Clinic
Foundation. "Both companies have provided pieces of the solution.
With Sun's acquisition of StorageTek, the combined company will be
able to provide the complete solution. It's an outstanding
opportunity for them to provide a continuum of solutions that marry
disk and tape storage, especially when the growth of data greatly
outpaces the increases in disk storage capacity alone. Tape backup
remains an important part of the equation to handle exploding data
growth cost effectively, especially for those of us in the medical
community." "As a partner of both Sun and StorageTek, Engenio sees
this combination as a major win for customers and partners alike,
as it expands Sun's storage solutions portfolio," said Flavio
Santoni, Engenio Senior Vice President of Worldwide Sales,
Marketing and Customer Support. "Following the acquisition, Engenio
storage platforms will expand across the spectrum of Sun's storage
portfolio and Sun customers will have a broader family of modular
solutions to choose from to tackle tough problems like compliance,
consolidation and content management in their open enterprises."
StorageTek's financial results will be included in Sun's
consolidated financial statements from the date of close, to
September 25, the end of Sun's fiscal 2006, first quarter. Sun
expects the transaction to be accretive to non-GAAP earnings in the
first 12 months. Safe Harbor This press release contains
forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties.
These forward-looking statements include statements regarding the
benefits expected to be received by Sun Microsystems from the
acquisition, including expanded growth opportunities in the storage
market, contributions by former StorageTek executives to Sun's
future success and expected synergies from the acquisition; Sun's
plans and expectations following the acquisition, including Sun's
plans to lead the industry to the intersection of network identity
and data archiving and information lifecycle management, Sun's
ability to bring real value to information lifecycle management,
expectations regarding product collaboration in disk and management
software areas and expectations that the transaction will be
accretive to non-GAAP earnings in the first 12 months. Such
statements are just predictions and involve risks and uncertainties
such that actual results and performance may differ materially.
Factors that might cause such a difference include the failure to
successfully integrate StorageTek and its employees into Sun and
achieve expected synergies, compete successfully in this highly
competitive and rapidly changing marketplace, retain key employees
and achieve expected financial results; and delays in product
development or customer acceptance and implementation of new
products and technologies. These and other risks are detailed from
time to time in Sun's periodic reports that are filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission, including Sun's annual report
on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 30, 2004 and its
quarterly reports on Form 10-Q for the fiscal quarters ended
September 26, 2004, December 26, 2004 and March 27, 2005. About Sun
Microsystems, Inc. A singular vision -- "The Network Is The
Computer" [TM] -- guides Sun in the development of technologies
that power the world's most important markets. Sun's philosophy of
sharing innovation and building communities is at the forefront of
the next wave of computing: the Participation Age. Sun can be found
in more than 100 countries and on the Web at http://sun.com/. Sun,
Sun Microsystems, the Sun logo, Solaris, Java, StorEdge and The
Network Is The Computer are trademarks or registered trademarks of
Sun Microsystems, Inc. in the United States and other countries.
Sun Media Contact: Stephanie Von Allmen 650-786-8589 Sun Industry
Analyst Contact: Joanne Masters 650-786-0847 Sun Investor Contact:
Paul Ziots 650-786-0411 DATASOURCE: Sun Microsystems, Inc. CONTACT:
Media Contact, Stephanie Von Allmen, +1-650-786-8589, , or Industry
Analyst Contact, Joanne Masters, +1-650-786-0847, , or Investor
Contact, Paul Ziots, +1-650-786-0411, , all of Sun Microsystems,
Inc. Web site: http://sun.com/
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