Network Appliance (NetApp) is to buy Spinnaker Networks in a move that improves the firm's high-end enterprise credentials and underlines the way storage is following the grid-computing model.

Spinnaker is a well-regarded startup best known for its distributed file system, clustering and virtualisation technologies. The $300m deal will allow NetApp to support hundreds of nodes, according to the company, and accelerate its drive to what it calls the Storage Grid.

NetApp's Storage Grid vision is part of a broader IT industry push towards scale-out architectures that use networks of low-cost servers to achieve high availability. Using virtualisation, administrators can gain an overview of storage activities across these networks and allocate resources accordingly.

Further in the future, it is expected that companies will pay for hardware and software on a utility-like pay-per-use basis.

NetApp plans to integrate Spinnaker tools with its own hardware, and will offer Spinnaker software as an alternative to its DataOnTap operating system on storage systems. Dan Warmenhoven, NetApp's chief executive, said, "Spinnaker technologies have a lot of fans and 'stickability' in the market. Storage firms are focusing on a scalable networking solution where you can find objects, move them and manage them."

Analysts have lauded Spinnaker's technology. "Spinnaker has a strong background in distributed file management," said Bob Zimmerman, an analyst at Forrester Research. "I'm also delighted with what we have seen of Network Appliance in the last five years in terms of their ability to morph into a hybrid SAN/NAS [storage area network/ network-attached storage] topology." He added, "It is very difficult to manage diverse resources on a NAS box but that this is probably exactly what NetApp is trying to achieve - and given Spinnaker's abilities they probably will."