Storage guts maker Emulex will buy privately-held chip firm Sierra Logic for $180m in a mixed stock, cash, and debt transfer deal.

Sierra Logic's revenues in 2005 were $15.6m. It has around 70 employees at its Roseville, California, offices. The firm describes its products as "intelligent I/O solutions", which we take to mean "fancy kit for shoehorning cheap SATA drives into high-end fibre channel enterprise storage".

In May it was named by PriceWaterhouseCoopers as one of the 100 fastest-growing new companies in the US.

Emulex CEO Paul Folino said: "This acquisition solidifies Emulex's embedded multi-protocol strategy and is another critical step toward becoming the market leader in the end-to-end embedded storage components market.

"It builds upon our prior acquisition of embedded switch supplier, Vixel, as well as our joint development efforts with Intel. Together, Emulex and Sierra Logic will provide our OEM customers with embedded solutions for the full range of enterprise server and storage systems."

Emulex said the buy would have no impact on its non-GAAP earnings per share for the quarter following completion. The deal has been approved by the two boards and is expected to go through on 30 September. ®

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