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Network Appliance makes buy to enhance caching business

The storage server maker announces plans to acquire WebManage Technologies for about $75 million in stock and cash.

Stephen Shankland Former Principal Writer
Stephen Shankland worked at CNET from 1998 to 2024 and wrote about processors, digital photography, AI, quantum computing, computer science, materials science, supercomputers, drones, browsers, 3D printing, USB, and new computing technology in general. He has a soft spot in his heart for standards groups and I/O interfaces. His first big scoop was about radioactive cat poop.
Expertise Processors, semiconductors, web browsers, quantum computing, supercomputers, AI, 3D printing, drones, computer science, physics, programming, materials science, USB, UWB, Android, digital photography, science. Credentials
  • Shankland covered the tech industry for more than 25 years and was a science writer for five years before that. He has deep expertise in microprocessors, digital photography, computer hardware and software, internet standards, web technology, and more.
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Stephen Shankland
Storage server maker Network Appliance has announced plans to acquire WebManage Technologies for about $75 million in stock and cash.

WebManage sells software that spreads information across several locations on the Internet, a technology called "caching" that speeds delivery of pages to Web surfers. The software boosts Network Appliance's caching hardware business. WebManage's software distributes the information intelligently.

The acquisition bolsters a new Network Appliance strategy, also announced today, to offer more complete products and services to manage customers' data. The company will provide all the underpinnings necessary for companies to deliver data as well as audio and video information over the Internet, the company said.

Network Appliance's stock was hit by Wall Street's wrath for technology stocks this spring, but the company's share price has largely recovered and climbed back to near its all-time high.