EMC acquires database startup Greenplum

Infrastructure giant EMC just announced that it plans to acquire Greenplum, a company offering database software.

San Mateo, Calif.-based Greenplum was founded in 2003 with the goal of tackling the growing demands of storing and analyzing business data. It says that its customers include divisions of NASDAQ and the New York Stock Exchange, Skype, Equifax, T-Mobile, and Fox Interactive Media. [Update: Greenplum, or rather its previous incarnation Metapa, goes back at least as far as 2001.]

Greenplum’s investors include Dawntreader Ventures, EDF Ventures, Hudson Ventures, Meritech Capital Partners, Mission Ventures, SAP Ventures, Sierra Ventures, and Sun Microsystems. The acquisition price was not disclosed, but it was reportedly all-cash.

EMC says the company will form a new data computing product division within the larger firm.

In an open letter to customers, Greenplum executives write:

EMC and Greenplum bring extraordinary potential to customers at the intersection of big data and sophisticated analytics. As technology and business partners, EMC and Greenplum witness daily the enthusiasm with which customers embrace how together, we impact their businesses in very tangible, positive, and meaningful ways. The technology speaks for itself. What energizes us most about this acquisition is EMC’s ability to open new doors of opportunity and invest in the future we all so passionately believe in: The power of data.

[image via Virtual Geek]