Imation has into a definitive agreement with IronKey, under which Imation will acquire the assets of IronKey's secure data storage hardware business.

The two companies also announced a strategic partnership whereby Imation will receive an exclusive license from IronKey for its secure storage management software and service, and a license to use the IronKey brand for secure storage products. IronKey will partner with Imation to provide its online cloud-based security services.

Approximately 40 employees of the privately held IronKey business are expected to transfer to Imation with the acquisition. Financial terms of the acquisition, expected to close within 30 days, were not disclosed.

"This acquisition is another important step in Imation's strategy to invest in leading technologies that enable us to deliver highly secure data storage solutions to our customers," said Mark Lucas, president and chief executive officer, Imation Corp. "IronKey's products meet the highest security, performance, and privacy standards of Fortune 500, enterprise, government, and military customers. Our new partnership with IronKey will also enable us to add a cloud-based security solution to Imation's offerings."

The secure storage products and technologies transferring to Imation include multifunction portable computing devices that protect stored data with strong hardware encryption. IronKey secure storage devices are validated by the National Institute of Standards and Technology to meet the stringent Level 3 criteria of FIPS 140-2. Combined with the cloud-based IronKey Enterprise Management Service, data security can be managed and audited from anywhere in the world.