Hewlett-Packard, best known for its printers and computers, has agreed to buy LeftHand Networks Inc, a provider of storage virtualization, for $360 million in cash to extend its footprints in midrange storage segment.

Colorado-based LeftHand Networks is privately held company, which has 215 employees and more than 500 resellers and distributors worldwide. The company helps midsize companies and remote offices or branches of large corporations to protect critical business data. The firm has more than 3,000 clients.

According to technical experts, LeftHand's mid-range products are already certified to work with HP products, which would expand company’s reach in the virtualization market.

Last year, business storage and servers accounted for 18% of Hewlett-Packard's revenue.

However, the acquisition, which is expected to close ins first quarter of 2009, is subject to purchase price adjustments.