DataDirect Networks Throws Lifeline To Tintri With Buyout Offer

Joseph F. Kovar

July 10, 2018, 01:39 PM EDT

DataDirect Networks (DDN), a developer of high-performance storage for modern workloads including artificial intelligence and big data, said Tuesday that it has signed a non-binding letter of intent to acquire the assets of all-flash storage vendor Tintri.

The acquisition of Mountain View, Calif.-based Tintri came just hours after the company had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

Tintri is the second acquisition of storage assets by Chatsworth, Calif.-based DDN, in the last month.

In late June, DDN acquired the Lustre file system business and related assets from Intel for an undisclosed sum as a way to improve the scalability of its storage offerings and its ability to service customers in high-performance computing, analytics, artificial intelligence and hybrid cloud.

[Related: Tintri Channel Partners Lament All-Flash Storage Vendor's Fate]

As reported by CRN last week, Tintri had been expected to close its doors or sell its intellectual property after laying off most of its employees and reporting via a regulatory filing that it was essentially out of cash.

Tintri is best known as a developer of VMware-aware all-flash storage arrays that allow data to be easily managed at the virtual machine level. Tintri said its customers include Comcast, Chevron, NASA, Toyota, United Healthcare and 20 percent of the Fortune 100 corporations.

Executives from DDN and Tintri did not respond to a request for more information by press time.

In materials unveiling the planned acquisition, DDN said such a transaction would bring the company's high-performance, scalable offerings new best-in-class enterprise virtualization, real-time analytics and virtual machine automation.

Alex Bouzari, DDN's CEO and co-founder, said in a prepared statement that his company is working with Tintri to provide continued support to its installed base as well as a roadmap to meet future requirements.

"Tintri’s industry-leading all-flash scale out and automation enterprise storage solutions have been successfully deployed in more than a thousand companies, including 20 of the Top Fortune 100. They are essential tools to help organizations build agile development environments for cloud native applications and run mission-critical enterprise applications better than ever before," Bouzari said in the statement.

Tintri cautioned that the agreement with DDN has not been finalized. In fact, the company said a "definitive" agreement has yet to be reached and is subject to "final approval" by the bankruptcy court.

Tintri also said it does not anticipate that its stockholders will receive any return on their shares.

Tintri, in its Chapter 11 bankruptcy filing of July 10, estimated it had between 1,000 and 5,000 creditors. The company also listed total assets of $76.25 million vs debts of $168 million.

Tintri's biggest creditor is listed as Flextronics International, the Milpitas, Calif.-based contract manufacture, which is owed nearly $4.5 million. It was followed by San Francisco-based Salesforce.com, which is owed just under $500,000.

A number of channel partners are among Tintri's 20 largest creditors. This includes a distributor, Annapolis Junction, Md.-based Promark Technology, which is owed about $303,468. Also in the top 20 creditors are solution providers including Campbell, Calif.-based Groupware Technology, which is owed about $121,826; Chicago-based CDW which is owed about $148,097; and Boston-based third-party services provider Fusion Worldwide, which is owed about $63,000.