1 September 2004 Storage software maker Veritas has agreed to buy UK-based KVault Software (KVS), which makes email archiving tools, for $225 million.

KVS currently has 900 customers for its policy-based archiving of Microsoft applications including Exchange, SharePoint, Office and file systems containing unstructured data.

Veritas is paying a premium for KVS, which had annual revenues of just $23 million in 2003. But analysts say this is a growing market, and helps Veritas flesh out its portfolio.

The acquisition will strengthen Veritas’s ability to help companies to manage email storage costs and volume.

Gary Bloom, chairman, president and CEO of Veritas, said: “With growing regulatory compliance, customers need solutions that allow them to quickly discover specific information, whether it’s in email or personal documents.”

Veritas aims to integrate the KVS software with its backup software, although KVS will be a 200 employee separate unit within Veritas.

The deal should be competed by the end of September 2004.