LEGATO BUYS INTELLIGUARD FOR $52M.

Enterprise storage management outfit Legato Systems Inc announced Thursday that it will acquire privately-held Intelliguard Software Inc, a specialist in Unix and NT standards-based storage management systems for Storage Area Networks (SAN). Under terms of the deal, Legato will issue 720,000 shares of stock and the cash equivalent of 180,000 shares at the closing price on the day preceding the completion of the transaction, for all of the outstanding stock of Intelliguard. Based on Legato's closing price on January 27, the deal is valued at roughly $52m. Legato says it expects the acquisition will be accretive to its 1999 earnings. It should close in March and will be accounted for as a purchase. Legato reckons the deal will propel it into a leadership position in the SAN marketplace. Intelliguard developed the Celestra architecture, which is said to provide the industry's first true 'server-less' backup for the SAN market. Intelliguard also co-developed the Network Data Management Protocol, which is set to become the industry standard for management of Network Attached Storage, having already been endorsed by EMC Corp, Storage Technology Corp, Network Appliance Inc and Veritas Software Corp. The deal follows two others Legato has made recently to elevate its position in the emerging SAN market, with its acquisition of FullTime Software Inc in October for $69m and it purchase of Software Moguls Inc in August for $10.8m.