Network Appliance Picks Up Parts of Auspex

Network Appliance Wednesday said it has acquired some of the patent assets of now bankrupt Auspex Systems.

The patent portfolio covers many technologies central to network-attached storage (NAS) systems, and expands the number of issued U.S. patents owned by Network Appliance.

The Sunnyvale, Calif.-based firm entered a final bid of nearly $9 million on June 13 as part of bankruptcy proceedings. The company said the final agreement is expected to close shortly as legal details and a contract are finalized.

While it has its niche in systems designed for medium-sized to large enterprises, Network Appliance has been looking for even more market share against other NAS players like EMC and Hewlett-Packard .

“Increasing our patent portfolio gives us an even stronger technology base to build next-generation NAS, SAN, and FAS systems for the benefit of our enterprise customers,” said Dan Warmenhoven, chief executive officer of Network Appliance.

Network Appliance says its NetCache Web caching appliances help enterprises and service providers deliver content more quickly by storing information physically closer to users. The company also offers a line of disk-based devices designed for backup and archiving (NearStore), as well as data management and content delivery software. Customers include Deutsche Telekom, Yahoo!, and Boeing.

The bankruptcy proceedings have really cut the Santa Clara, Calif.-based Auspex into small pieces since it filed a voluntary petition for Chapter 11 liquidation with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Northern District of California, San Jose division, late last April. Earlier this week, Framingham, Mass.-based GlassHouse Technologies, Inc., which sells vendor-neutral storage and consulting services, came forward with a successful bid to acquire Auspex’s services and support business.