IBM acquires storage compression company

Storwize to become part of Big Blue

IBM is to acquire data compression technology company Storwize for an undisclosed sum.

The acquisition is expected to close in the third quarter of this year, IBM says.

Storwize provides technology that compresses files and other types of data in real-time in multiple computing environments, IBM said. Storwize's data compression technology does not degrade system or application performance, and creates space to store more data in IT environments.

IBM said that the compression technology will help scan more historical data for analysis without the need for extra storage, which could help boost the performance of analytics applications and databases.

The technology will help make sense of massive amounts of data in order to provide new services, says Brian Truskowski, general manager at IBM, in a statement.

Storwize's Random Access Compression Engine uses patented technology and is based on the industry-standard compression algorithm. IBM offers database software including DB2 and analytics software to uncover and analyse information from multiple sources.