SanDisk follows on the recent sTec acqusition by WD and buys up enterprise SSD developer SMART Storage Systems for $307 million in cash and equity-based incentive awards. 

The company makes the 4th SanDisk enterprise storage purchase, following Schooner IT (June 2012), Pliant (May 2012) and FlashSoft (February 2012), as well as a recent investment in all-flash array supplier Whiptail. 

"This acquisition enables SanDisk to address a $1.6bn market opportunity in enterprise SATA products, and complements our strong enterprise SAS product portfolio," SanDisk says. "With this combination, SanDisk will have products qualified with 6 of the top 7 storage OEMs worldwide."

A February 2012 spin off of Smart Modular Technologies, SMART Storage Systems is the developer of the Guardian endurance technology for MLC-based SSDs and maker of the Optimus and CloudSpeed product families. SMART sales for the quarter ending May 2013 total around $25 million.

 SanDisk says the acquisition will hurt H2 2013 earnings somewhat before the investment pays off during 2014. 

Go SanDisk Announces Agreement to Acquire SMART Storage Systems