Editor's Comment: Arcserve and StorageCraft have just announced they have signed a definitive agreement to merge. This merger could potentially create one of the world's largest data protection/business continuity companies. However, with all mergers, there will be a dominant party. Based on the press statements, the Arcserve CEO seems to be the face of the announcement and Arcserve will be the parent company.

Soon, we'll start to see 'StorageCraft, an Arcserve company' used as the first phase of their branding. While they talk about no overlap in product, that doesn't really seem to be the case. They do have different channels, but the two companies often compete over the same part of the market. So, it will be interesting to see how this will all pan out over the next few years and whether we'll see a gradual phasing out of one of the brands.

The full press release of the announcement is as follows:

Arcserve, the world's most experienced data and ransomware protection provider, and StorageCraft, whose mission is to protect all data and ensure its constant availability, announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to merge. Once completed, the two highly complementary companies' merger will form the most comprehensive global provider of data management and protection solutions for organisations spanning from SMBs to the Fortune 50. The merger will solve the growing market need for a single source to manage and protect workloads throughout the data centre, cloud, SaaS applications, and at the edge. With expanded geographic reach, the industry's broadest product portfolio, flexible business models, and magnified innovation footprint, the merged companies will bring extensive market and revenue opportunities for MSPs, VARs, and distributors.

Addressing challenges facing end-users in every size organisation
Combining capabilities will create a comprehensive product suite that addresses the vast majority of use cases and business continuity challenges. With total global data storage projected to exceed 200 zettabytes by 2025 and cybercriminals expected to attack a new business every 11 seconds in 2021, organisations will be able to choose one vendor for a single, agile ecosystem to manage data workloads in all environments and to protect and recover data in the event of cyberthreats, human error, and natural disasters.

Organisations of all sizes will be able to rely on a single partner to protect current and evolving data infrastructures with a solutions-based portfolio that spans DRaaS, BaaS, SaaS protection, hybrid and converged data management, direct to cloud data protection, and workload migration to the cloud - or any other infrastructure.

Significant value for MSPs, VARs, and distributors
As two 100% channel-focused organisations come together, the merger will create meaningful new revenue opportunities for partners worldwide. The significantly expanded portfolio will simplify the selling process with solutions, services, and support from one vendor while also providing diversification to help partners expand addressable market share, scale revenue, and create margin opportunities. Flexible perpetual license and subscription business models will further optimise market and revenue opportunities and enable friction-free commerce.

Accelerated investment for future infrastructures and next-generation data workloads
Arcserve and StorageCraft will continue to support and invest in their existing solutions fully. In addition, both companies will increase investments in R&D and combined IP, which will strengthen both companies' product portfolios. Channel partners and end-users alike will see rapid innovation for continuous data availability across every platform and location. This will enable a seamless evolution from current to next-generation infrastructures and data workloads, including hyper-converged, multi-cloud, containers, edge infrastructures, and next-generation cloud data centres.

Following the merger, StorageCraft will be branded 'StorageCraft, an Arcserve Company,' and the merged company will be united under the leadership of CEO Tom Signorello, the current CEO of Arcserve, and president Douglas Brockett, the current president of StorageCraft.

Availability
The combined Arcserve and StorageCraft solution portfolio will be available through channel partners and distribution.

Supporting Quotes
Tom Signorello, CEO, Arcserve
"Companies in every sector are looking to modernise their infrastructures amid unabated cyber threats and global changes that have altered the way they must protect and manage data. This merger will place us at the forefront of filling a massive market gap by supporting all workloads in every environment with one ecosystem. No longer will organisations require ad-hoc solutions that only add to the complexity they are trying to solve. We will be better placed than any other vendor to be ready as new workloads arise and infrastructures evolve – providing certainty today and in the future."

Matt Medeiros, Chairman and CEO, StorageCraft
"The combination of StorageCraft's leadership in the SMB and MSP market combined with Arcserve's strength in the enterprise and VAR ecosystem, is game changing for the data protection and recovery market."

Douglas Brockett, President, StorageCraft
"Following the completion of the merger, the scope and scale of our combined businesses will allow us to bring a dramatically broader portfolio of solutions to market. At the same time, it expands the resources with which we can serve our customers and ensures we grow hand in hand with our channel partners."

Phil Goodwin, Research Director, IDC
"The combination of Arcserve and StorageCraft is very intriguing because it combines complementary hardware and software platforms. Arcserve's data protection and data security portfolio, when combined with StorageCraft's object-based data protection appliance platform, opens up solution possibilities beyond data protection and recovery. A holistic approach to data protection, security and secondary uses is the sort of solution that many IT organisations are considering."

Jerome Wendt, President & Founder, DCIG LLC
"StorageCraft and Arcserve coming together as a single company will very likely disturb the status quo of the data backup and protection industry. Independently, they represent well-run organisations with market-leading products that play in complementary markets. As a unified entity, it means that, for the first time, organisations have access to solutions that span from the enterprise to the smallest office – all from a single source. It gives organisations new freedom and potentially better choices in how they implement data management in their environments – plus a powerful and less complicated roadmap for future data workloads. This merger is likely a win for everyone, except maybe their competitors."

Jeff Richards, Director of Solutions & Services, Paragon Micro
"When two 100% channel-centric data protection leaders merge, it can only be good news for the channel. The unified portfolio of best-in-class solutions is highly attractive to us. There is minimal product overlap, which makes the potential for adding services and expanding our market and revenue opportunity pretty frictionless."