Hewlett Packard Enterprise entered a definitive agreement to acquire SimpliVity, a provider of software-defined, hyperconverged infrastructure, for $650 million in cash.

The hyperconverged market was estimated to be worth approximately $2.4 billion in 2016, and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 25%, to nearly $6 billion, by 2020. By bringing together HPE’s infrastructure, automation and cloud management software with SimpliVity’s software-defined data management platform, HPE and its partner ecosystem will deliver the industry’s only “built-for-enterprise” hyperconverged offering.

“This transaction expands HPE’s software-defined capability and fits squarely within our strategy to make Hybrid IT simple for customers,” said Meg Whitman, president and CEO, Hewlett Packard Enterprise. “More and more customers are looking for solutions that bring them secure, highly resilient, on-premises infrastructure at cloud economics. That’s exactly where we’re focused.”

Many enterprises have legacy IT environments that are not well suited for today’s cloud-based services and on-demand applications. Modern data management platforms need simple, user-friendly interfaces that give developers the tools they need to easily develop, scale and protect data. A hyperconverged system integrates compute, storage and networking into a pre-configured system, managed by a user-friendly software platform that doesn’t require extensive IT staff for set up and management.

For current HPE customers and partners, the company will continue to offer its existing hyperconverged products, the HC 380 and the HC 250. For SimpliVity customers and partners, there will be no immediate change in the product roadmap and HPE will continue to support existing SimpliVity customers and platforms.

Within 60 days of closing the transaction, HPE intends to offer the SimpliVity Omni Stack software qualified for its ProLiant DL380 servers.

In the second half of 2017, the company will offer a range of integrated HPE SimpliVity hyperconverged systems based on HPE ProLiant Servers.

HPE expects the acquisition to be accretive to earnings in the first full fiscal year following close. The transaction is expected to close in the second quarter of HPE’s fiscal year 2017, subject to regulatory review and approval, as well as other customary closing conditions and adjustments.