The $120 million deal will help Imation expand into the SMB and distributed enterprise storage markets Imation, a storage and data security company, has acquired Nexsan, a vendor of disk-based storage systems, in a deal worth about $120 million, the company announced.The acquisition of Nexsan gives Imation a portfolio of disk-based and hybrid disk and solid-state storage systems, Imation said Wednesday. Nexsan, based in Thousand Oaks, California, has more than 11,000 customers worldwide.Imation expects the deal to accelerate its growth in the small and medium-size business and distributed enterprise storage markets, the company said. One of Imation’s priorities will be to focus on the “underserved SMB market with purpose-built storage systems and appliances,” Mark Lucas, president and CEO of Imation, said in a statement. “This is a market that Nexsan knows well.”The transaction included about $105 million in cash and 3.3 million shares of Imation common stock, worth about $15 million.Nexsan had revenue of $82 million in 2011.Approximately 200 employees, based in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, joined Imation with this acquisition. The Nexsan business will continue to operate from Nexsan’s current headquarters under existing management, Imation said. Imation will consider integration of Nexsan with its tiered storage and security business in the first quarter of this year. Technology Industry