Has IBM tired of dancing with NetApp?

I have always thought it strange that IBM would be a reseller of NetApp equipment, making very marginal rates of return for its stockholders. It just makes more business sense for IBM to own and sell their own NAS products because they could own the Intellectual Property. It may be that IBM was using the NetApp product line to learn how to sell into the departmental NAS market niche, where NetApp is strongest.

If IBM has decided to dominate the departmental NAS space, the rumors of an IBM acquisition of Falconstor make a lot of sense.

Wall Street analysts said that IBM has been looking at this acquisition for some time but has been waiting for FalconStor to get real traction. “That time would seem to be now,”

Only time will tell.