OAKDALE, Minn. (December 20, 2011) – Imation today announced it has acquired intellectual property and other assets, including key data deduplication technology, from Nine Technology. This data deduplication software engine eliminates redundant data, enabling shorter backup windows, quicker recovery, lower infrastructure costs and more robust and reliable data protection. Financial terms of the acquisition were not disclosed. Nine Technology will continue to operate as a standalone service provider of data protection offerings and be a strategic partner for Imation.

“Imation’s acquisition of this important data deduplication technology is another major step in our scalable storage growth strategy,” said Ian Williams, Imation vice president, global marketing and product management. “We chose to acquire this technology because we recognize the power of block-level deduplication. This will be one of the key differentiating features of Imation’s data protection portfolio for small and medium businesses (SMBs).”

The acquired data backup and recovery intellectual property is a patented two-stage, block-level deduplication technology.

"Imation needs block-level deduplication to compete effectively in the new world order, and Nine Technology is the right partner at the right time,” said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst at Enterprise Strategy Group. “The combination of Imation’s global reach and recent storage and security investments creates a potent opportunity.”

Nine Technology founder and former chief executive officer Tom Gelson, and former Nine Technology chief technology officer Alex Stoev join Imation as key additions to the company’s scalable storage team.

“Imation is a global leader in storage,” said Gelson. “I am excited by Imation’s commitment to developing scalable storage solutions for SMBs through the integration of the Nine platform.”

Additional information about Imation is available at www.imation.com

more information, visit www.ninetechnology.com