Acquisition of Topio will enable NetApp customers to replicate their data on any vendor's system Storage vendor Network Appliance (NetApp) is planning to acquire a California firm to add to its portfolio of storage system management software.NetApp said Wednesday it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire privately held Topio for approximately $160 million in cash.Topio, already a NetApp Strategic Partner, is a provider of software that helps customers replicate, recover, and protect data over any distance regardless of the underlying server or storage infrastructure, NetApp said. Topio is in Santa Clara, California, not far from NetApp’s headquarters in nearby Sunnyvale, and operates a R&D (research and development) facility in Haifa, Israel.NetApp says the acquisition of Topio will enable NetApp’s customers to replicate their data on any vendor’s system, including those of its main rivals EMC, Hewlett-Packard, and Hitachi Data Systems, to any NetApp storage system.NetApp expects to complete the acquisition by December, at which point Topio will become a new business unit within NetApp. Topio’s R&D facility in Israel will continue to operate after the deal closes, NetApp said. Technology IndustryData Management