SolidFire Now Officially Part Of NetApp

NetApp announced today that the company has completed its acquisition of scale-out flash array maker SolidFire.
I spoke to SolidFire Principal Architect Jeremiah Dooley and NetApp Flash Architect Andy Grimes at the TECH.unplugged conference today in Austin, TX about the announcement.

Dooley confirmed that SolidFire will remain a separate entity within the larger NetApp, with the existing field sales team. “Our staff and our customers were very happy to hear that all staff would be staying,” he said. The existing brand will also be maintained for a time, though Dooley speculates that it will probably be retired at some point “but not in the foreseeable future.”

Grimes praised the SolidFire culture, and emphasized NetApp's desire to maintain it now that the acquisition has completed. Dooley was keen to reinforce that being owned by NetApp only meant positive things for SolidFire. “We have access to a much bigger budget now,” he joked.

Dooley also told me that my interview with NetApp CEO George Kurian and SolidFire's then CEO, Dave Wright is being used as a primer on the implications of the acquisition for internal staff. Kurian said at the time that SolidFire would remain a separate entity, headed by Wright. The message from NetApp and SolidFire today was consistent with Kurian and Wright's statements at the time.

Fans of SolidFire socks will be pleased to learn that new socks will be available from mid-February.

Disclosure: I traveled to TECH.unplugged as a guest of TECH.unplugged and Tech Field Day. NetApp/SolidFire gave me a pair of the new socks.

This article first appeared in Forbes.com here.