Seagate Technology, which is one of the world's largest storage solutions providers, said that is has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Xyratex.

Xyratex, which is a leading data storage technology company that develops test systems for hard disk drives, has developed a leading hard disk drive (HDD) capital test equipment business. Seagate will expand its presence in the market with the acquisition. The company will vertically integrated supply and manufacturing chain for disk drives and offer uninterrupted access to important capital equipment.

The acquisition will expand its storage solutions portfolio by adding Xyratex enterprise data storage systems and high-performance computing business. Seagate has said that it will operate this business as a separate entity and will continue to consider opportunities to improve and expand the business.

"This is a strategically important acquisition for Seagate as we continue to focus on delivering best-in-class storage solutions for our customers. As the average capacity per drive increases to multi-terabytes, the time to test these drives increases dramatically.

Therefore, access to world-class test equipment becomes an increasingly strategic capability. As a premier provider of HDD testing equipment, Xyratex is an important partner and we are excited to integrate these important capabilities which will considerably streamline our supply and manufacturing chain for our core HDD business," Dave Mosley, president of operations and technology at Seagate.