Seagate Acquires LSI’s Accelerated Solutions and Flash Components Divisions

Seagate, a prominent player in the storage industry, has announced an acquisition agreement with Avago Technologies. Under this agreement, Seagate will acquire the assets of LSI’s Accelerated Solutions Division (ASD) and Flash Components Division (FCD) from Avago for $450 million in cash. This move comes as the storage industry is moving away from spinning disks and towards newer technologies.

Seagate Expands its Flash Storage Offerings

As part of its portfolio, Seagate will now have access to LSI’s established enterprise PCIe flash and SSD controller capabilities. This includes the Nytro lineup and the SSD-controller focused SandForce. LSI’s enterprise-grade PCIe flash solution has been particularly successful in the cloud and hyperscale markets. The FCD business, which includes the SandForce SF2000 and SF3700 controller products, is also driving a multi-product roadmap to address volume markets. LSI acquired SandForce in 2011 for $370 million.

Seagate’s chairman and CEO, Steve Luczo, expressed his excitement about the acquisition, stating that it will significantly enhance the company’s flash storage offerings. He emphasized that LSI’s ASD business has the broadest PCIe flash product offering and intellectual property in the market, while the FCD business has best-in-class SSD controllers with proven support for various applications. Luczo believes that this acquisition will immediately boost Seagate’s range and depth of flash storage capabilities and accelerate its roadmap in this important and growing market.

Implications for Licensing Model and Open Compute Project

LSI’s SandForce licensing model is widely used in the industry, allowing OEMs without controllers or NAND technology to enter the market. However, it remains to be seen whether Seagate will continue this licensing model once the LSI divisions are integrated into the company. LSI has also contributed two storage infrastructure reference designs to Facebook’s Open Compute Project, an open-source hardware and data center design effort.

Avago’s Interest in LSI

LSI, a Silicon Valley stalwart that was started in 1981, has been a significant OEM provider, licensing its intellectual property for the server, storage, and networking industries. Avago’s acquisition of LSI may have been driven by reasons unrelated to its flash business, as Avago showed no interest in that aspect.

Seagate’s Position in the SSD Market

With the addition of LSI’s products, Seagate becomes a major player in the SSD market. Its competitor, Western Digital, has also made moves in this space by acquiring hard drive maker Hitachi HGST and enterprise flash storage company Virident.

In conclusion, Seagate’s acquisition of LSI’s Accelerated Solutions and Flash Components Divisions expands its flash storage offerings and strengthens its position in the SSD market. The integration of LSI’s expertise and products will allow Seagate to provide a complete range of storage solutions to its customers.