Sheffield and Silicon Valley-based software developer WANdisco has acquired pioneering Silicon Valley-based Cloud and ‘Big Data’ software company AltoStor for $5.1 million.
The deal, worth the equivalent of about £3.2 million, is WANdisco’s second acquisition since it floated on the Alternative Investment Market in May and WANdisco is funding it by issuing almost 526,000 new ordinary shares.
AltoStor was founded by Dr Konstantin Shvachko and Jagane Sundar, who are joining Digital Campus-based WANdisco.
Both men were among the developers of Apache Hadoop software, which is credited with being the driving force behind the growth of the Big Data industry.
Big Data applications include analysing economic trends, combating disease and crime and predicting the weather.
Hadoop allows users to process massive amounts of data cheaply, regardless of how it is structured.
The software is said to be the backbone of many of the world’s largest and most important databases and is used by companies such as Amazon, eBay, Facebook, Netflix and Yahoo.
Dr Shvachko and Mr Sundar both worked at Yahoo and Dr Shvachko went on to implement Hadoop at internet auction giant eBay, as its Principal Big Data Architect.
WANdisco says acquiring AltoStor will enable it to launch its first enterprise-ready Big Data product ahead of schedule in the first half of next year.
Sheffield-born chairman and chief executive, David Richards, said: “The AltoStor acquisition will enable WANdisco to launch products quickly into the highly lucrative Big Data market.
“Combining our technology with the founders of the Hadoop project is a significant coup and an important aspect of this deal is that the founders of AltoStor believe in the WANdisco story – that’s why they are committing to this direction for the long term.”
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