As the market of internal hard disk drives drops following declines in PC business, the market of external storage solutions is on the rise. Keeping this fact in mind, Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) said on Tuesday that it had agreed to acquire Fabrik, a privately-held supplier of personal and professional storage solutions, whose leading storage brands include G-Technology and SimpleTech.

“The Fabrik acquisition becomes the cornerstone for the next phase of our business transformation. It strategically expands our market presence, strengthens our product portfolio, and increases our customer base. Fabrik is a key component of our growth and profit strategy going forward and will enable us to deliver a differentiated set of products across a broad range of end-user market segments,” said Steve Milligan, president of Hitachi GST.

Fabrik’s leading storage brands include G-Technology, offering premium external storage solutions for the Mac, content creation and professional A/V markets; and SimpleTech, an innovative leader in PC-based external storage and backup solutions.

Fabrik’s business will continue intact and form the core of Hitachi GST’s newly-formed external storage business. Hitachi GST will fully support the G-Technology and SimpleTech product lines, building upon their success and differentiation in the market. The combined company will also leverage operational, technical and product development resources, distribution channels and global reach to accelerate delivery of a full portfolio of traditional hard drives, solid state drives and branded personal and professional storage products.

Industry analyst firm IDC expects worldwide personal storage device shipments to grow from approximately 52 million in 2008 to 123 million in 2012. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed. Closing of the acquisition, which is subject to customary conditions, is expected to occur early in the second quarter of 2009.

Mike Cordano, Fabrik chief executive officer and co-founder, will join Hitachi GST as a key member of the executive management team. Mr. Cordano has quite some experience in external storage business, as he was responsible for the launch of “OneTouch” external storage and backup solution, when he worked at Maxtor Corp.

“Hitachi GST provides Fabrik and its customers all the benefits of a vertically integrated company. We gain economies of scale, financial stability, association with a strong brand and a worldwide footprint to accelerate our business growth. We are pleased that Hitachi is building upon our vision and enabling end-users everywhere to enjoy powerful storage solutions that are unequalled when it comes to performance, style, reliability and innovation,” said Mike Cordano.

Tags: Hitachi, Fabrik, SimpleTech, G-Technology