Hitachi Data Systems (HDS) acquired purpose-built backup appliance (PBBA) provider Sepaton as part of a larger HDS strategy to offer enterprise customers scalable and integrated data protection, the company noted.

“With the addition of Sepaton, HDS customers have access to one of the broadest portfolios of data protection solutions in the industry,” said Sean Moser, vice president, Software Platforms Product Management at Hitachi Data Systems, in a blog post. “HDS can address customer pain points with the most effective technology; whether disk-based deduplication or data instance management, HDS has a solution that best solves the customer’s problem.”

Sepaton is a longtime partner with HDS. The two already share a number of customers and have worked on joint solutions in the past. The company is best-known for its S2100-ES3 modular backup platform aimed at large, date-intensive enterprises.

Moser said the acquisition will enable HDS to give customers tighter integration between their business and IT needs, called “Business Defined IT,” to help customers deploy a continuous infrastructure for their data. This, in turn, is expected to drive down the cost of protection and enable Hitachi to offer better disaster protection and greater data protection flexibility.

“Customers will now have access to the combined strength of HDS’ market-leading solutions and services with Sepaton’s enterprise proven data protection – giving IT organizations peace of mind that their most valuable asset (their data) will be stored, protected and managed on the best infrastructure on the planet,” said Moser.

IDC recently estimated the PBBA market would see a CAGR of 19.2 percent to about $5.3 billion in 2015, signaling the industry still has some room to grow. Moser promised HDS would help ingrain Sepaton into its strategy to form the company’s overall vision of a next generation solutions provider. The terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.