Hard drive maker Western Digital Corp announced Tuesday that it has acquired privately-held start-up Crag Technologies, for about $12m in stock. San Jose-based Crag has specialized in developing storage systems for Windows NT servers since its inception in 1997, when it was known as Ridge Technologies Inc. The company has had a strange history. Last May, it was acquired by Adaptec Inc, which at the same time was also looking to purchase Hyundai’s Symbios Inc storage unit and merge the two businesses. After pressure from the Federal Trade Commission led Adaptec to give up on acquiring Symbios, the company decided instead to cut back operations to its core businesses, and subsequently divested itself of Ridge. The smaller company bought back its intellectual property, but couldn’t get the rights to its name back, so it secured new venture funding and started over again as Crag. It will now be operated as a wholly-owned subsidiary of Western Digital under Mike Williams, senior vice president and general manager at the larger company. Western Digital plans to continue Crag’s development efforts and expects to ship its first products developed by the new unit within a 9-12 month time frame. Products from the company were originally due last September before the fling with Adaptec resulted in delays. Western Digital said the acquisition will result in a third-quarter charge for in process research and development of approximately all of the $12m purchase price.
