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NEW YORK, Oct 1 (Reuters) – Hewlett-Packard Co (NASDAQ:HPQ) has agreed to buy LeftHand Networks Inc, a network storage provider, for $360 million in cash to extend its storage technology offerings for mid-sized companies.

The acquisition, which is expected to close in HP’s fiscal first quarter of 2009, is subject to purchase price adjustments, HP said. LeftHand Networks, based in Boulder, Colorado, is privately held and has 215 employees.

HP, known best for its printers and computers, will add LeftHand’s storage software to its own offerings of storage servers. It said LeftHand’s mid-range products are already certified to work with HP products and would complement its low-end and high-end storage products.

The deal follows HP’s purchase in August of technology services company Electronic Data Systems for $13.9 billion.

HP shares rose 19 cents at $46.43 in morning trade on the New York Stock Exchange. (Reporting by Franklin Paul and Sinead Carew, editing by Gerald E. McCormick)

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