Latest Storage Industry News - Dell to buy EqualLogic for $1.4 bn

From REUTERS,
NEW YORK: Dell Inc said on Monday it would buy data storage network company EqualLogic for $1.4 billion, its largest acquisition ever, as it seeks to boost its fastest-growing business segment.
The world's second-largest computer maker said it expects the acquisition to reduce its earnings per share, excluding the amortization of intangibles, by 2 cents to 5 cents in aggregate for the fiscal years 2009 and 2010.
The deal has been approved by the boards of both companies but still must pass regulatory muster. It is expected to close late in the fourth quarter of Dell's fiscal year 2008 or early in the first quarter of its fiscal 2009.

My Opinion: This is definitely one of the biggest news in the Storage Business domain in the recent past.
'VIRTUALIZATION' is the latest buzz across the storage industries, numerous Startup companies trying to come up with their own software & some of Big names are VMWARE (acquired by EMC2), XenSource & so on. i can predict more aquisitions or mergers of Virtualization based companies in the future.
For DELL, this is the right move. DELL is trying to be competative with HP, IBM, SUN & others in the Storage business and after the IPO success of VMWARE (EMC2) certainly DELL's move to acquire EqualLogic is value addition.
The deal will give Dell a presence in iSCSI & Virtualization storage technology.