Behind Your Business

Dell declined Thursday to continue its pursuit of 3PAR after Hewlett-Packard increased its bid to $33 per share, or about $2.4 billion. Though Dell had submitted a revised offer of $32 per share just hours earlier, 3PAR's board of directors said it considers HP's final bid the "superior proposal."

Dell's initial cash offer for the storage technology provider, submitted Aug. 16, was $1.15 billion, or $18 per share. However, HP submitted a $1.6 billion counter offer on Aug. 23, which Dell then matched. Though Dell bumped its 3PAR bid to $1.8 million on Aug. 27, HP immediately responded by boosting its offer to $2 billion.

"We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions," said Dell Senior Vice President Dave Johnson. "We believe our strategy of creating open, affordable and capable solutions resonates well with customers and will enable us to continue to outgrow the industry."

A High-end Scale-Out Architecture

HP said last month that the acquisition of 3PAR's next-generation storage architecture would help the computer giant accelerate its converged-infrastructure strategy, which provides clients with access to a sizable portfolio of intellectual property across storage, server and networking solutions. IDC Vice President Benjamin Woo noted that HP is due for a full refresh for its mid- to high-end storage portfolio.

"3PAR will ultimately have some overlap between the HP EVA and XP product lines," Woo said Thursday. "However, it brings to HP an opportunity to deliver to its clients a high-end scale-out architecture that neither the EVA or XP offers."

The 3PAR acquisition also helps HP with its positioning toward a converged data center, Woo observed. "3PAR's client list is a valuable one for HP," Woo said. "It offers a route for service providers."

Several analysts had expressed concern that Dell's acquisition of 3PAR would...