Data storage companies focus on flash M&A potential

The mid-year move by Oracle Corp. to acquire Xsigo Systems Inc. is number nine on our list because it prompted a lot of pundits to ask why there seemed to be so much sudden interest in software-defined networking (SDN). Oracle's July acquisition of Xsigo came in the same month that VMware announced plans to pick up SDN vendor Nicira. Xsigo always billed itself as a network virtualization company with software that connects any server to any network. It was not until Oracle acquired Xsigo that its technology fell into the SDN category. At the end of the year, it was still unclear how Oracle plans to use the Xsigo technology in its product plans.