Dell acquires AppAssure for backup and storage

Dell has acquired US-based AppAssure, a provider of software to support application protection across physical, virtual and cloud architectures.

Dell has identified storage as a growth area, and this most recent acquisition is intended to protect customer data while in storage.

Dave Buzzell, CIO of Sedona Group and an AppAssure customer, described the ease of use of the vendor's service as a key strength.

"AppAssure's speed and ease of use are great, and the continuous backup makes recovery go really smoothly," he said.

"We estimate that we can keep three years of continuous backups just due to AppAssure's true global deduplication and compression technology."

Phil Codling, research director at analyst firm TechMarketView, said the acquisition is in line with Dell's current strategy.

"Cloud-based storage and backup services are set for decent growth, especially among the sorts of mid-market clients where Dell is trying to target its services efforts."

He added that the AppAssure purchase is designed to differentiate Dell's storage service from its competition.

"Dell has invested heavily in its storage offerings in recent years, and by buying AppAssure the company is trying to carve out a little bit of differentiation around assurance of application performance in this competitive space.

"Naturally it will also add AppAssure's application-aware capabilities to its relevant server lines."

Although he added that any new software resulting from the deal will need to be integrated across other products and services if Dell is too see maximum value.

"Differentiation through software-led innovation is vital, but Dell needs to be careful not to create another stovepipe. The value of a software asset like AppAssure will only be realised if it is fully integrated across relevant products and services."