Seagate, the company known for its hard disks, announced the acquisition of Metalincs, a firm that makes software to help companies sift through their data to find information pertaining to lawsuits.

An excerpt from InformationWeek:

“This is an expansion opportunity on its own right, rather than just driving more storage (hardware sales),” Mark Grace, senior VP and general manager of the services group, told InformationWeek.

MetaLincs is a small, 4-year-old company that has managed to attract some large customers, including Merrill Lynch, Union Bank of California, Ernst & Young, and the Department of Justice. The company targets the insurance, banking, and pharmaceuticals industries.

Seagate is bolstering its services arm, which develops software to help organizations archive and search through their data. This is the second acquisition by Seagate, after the purchase of EVault, a firm that specialized in managing online backups.

Seagate is not alone in its initiatives in the segment called e-discovery. IBM also announced its acquisition of privately-held Arsenal Digital Solutions USA Inc.

More information:

Seagate Acquires E-Discovery Vendor MetaLincs (eWeek)

Seagate to Buy E-Discovery Company (PC World)