SanDisk's $1.1 billion acquisition of Fusion-io will create a flash storage powerhouse

SanDisk has reached an agreement to acquire Fusion-io for $1.1 billion, the companies said in a statement. The acquisition is designed to enable SanDisk to build data centers enhanced by flash technology.

SanDisk Corporation provides flash storage solutions to enterprises of all sizes. By acquiring Fusion-io SanDisk beefs up its catalog of flash memory products - particularly flash products designed for big data and analytics. Fusion-io has a client roster of more than 7,000 customers in more 80 countries.

Apple Co-Founder Steve Wozniak is Fusion-io’s Chief Scientist Apple. It is immediately unclear what his position will be under SanDisk.

Fusion-io's turbulent ride

Fusion-io was founded in 2005 as Canvas Technologies. The Cottonwood, Utah-based company filed an IPO in 2011 for an initial valuation of $2 billion. The same summer, Fusion-io acquired flash caching technology company IO Turbine for $95 million. The company has posted a revenue loss for the past five quarters.

In October of last year, Fusion-io’s CFO Dennis Wolf resigned after a 27% revenue decrease compared with the corresponding quarter from 2012. Last year, Co-Founders David Flynn, who was serving as CEO, and Rick White, who was serving as CMO, also resigned.

In June, SanDisk released the first self-encrypting solid state drive (SSD) designed for the enterprise market.