Fusion-io acquires NexGen Storage
Beth Potter
LOUISVILLE -Publicly traded Fusion-io Inc. acquired data-storage appliance firm NexGen Storage Inc. in Louisville for $119 million, the two companies announced Wednesday.

Salt Lake City-based Fusion-io (NYSE: FIO) paid $114 million in cash and $5 million in stock, according to a press statement. The company will add about 50 NexGen employees to its team, according to the statement.

"The Fusion-io acquisition is not an exit, it's the beginning of something great," John Spiers, a founder of NexGen, said in a blog post on Wednesday. "All of us at NexGen are in it for the long haul."

Spiers will serve as senior vice president at Fusion-io and general manager of the NexGen Products division, according to the press statement.

Louisville-based NexGen Storage has been collaborating with Fusion-io - mainly in sales and marketing. NexGen Storage in 2011 said it would use Fusion-io's io-Drive in its NexGen n5 Storage System, for example, as part of an original equipment manufacturer agreement between the two companies. NexGen's computer storage appliances are based on Fusion's memory technology, the companies have said.

Spiers and Kelly Long started NexGen in 2010, two years after they sold network storage company LeftHand Networks Inc. to Hewlett-Packard Co. for $360 million in December 2008.

The company raised at least $10 million in venture capital from Next World Capital, in San Francisco, Access Venture Partners, which has an office in Westminster and in Austin, Texas, and Grotech Ventures, which has offices Vienna, Virginia, and Hunt Valley, Maryland.

NexGen's office is at 361 Centennial Parkway in the Colorado Tech Center in Louisville.

Spiers and Fusion-io's chief executive David Flynn are scheduled to discuss the significance of the acquisition during a live webcast at 8 a.m. Thursday, April 25.