Before launching into the 10 coolest storage startups for 2012 so far, it's worth taking a minute to note a couple companies that would normally qualify for such a list but were acquired in the second quarter of this year, including:

• XtremIO: This Israeli developer of all-Flash storage arrays was in May acquired by EMC, making EMC the first tier-one storage vendor to have such an offering once XtremIO completes its first product.
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• Schooner Information Technology: Schooner, a developer of enterprise open-source database software optimized for SSD use, was in June acquired by SanDisk, which just happens to make SSDs.

The lesson here? If you see a new vendor you like, better quickly partner up with it or risk starting up with a larger parent company later.