Storage vendor EMC has acquired backup and recovery vendor Dantz Corporation in a $50m cash deal.

EMC says the addition of Dantz to its portfolio will prove significant in its quest to move into the small and mid-sized storage software sector.

EMC has been adopting an aggressive acquisition strategy since it made the decision to get into storage software, expanding away from its traditional storage hardware business.

Dantz is the 15th company EMC has acquired since 2000.

'Dantz is a strategic acquisition in line with EMC's strategy to extend our reach and focus on the fast-growing SMB market of next generation high growth customers,' said Dave DeWalt, executive vice president, of EMC's software group.

'While the majority of EMC's offerings to date have been targeted at the enterprise and commercial markets, Dantz represents EMC's first major SMB software entry with purpose-built products targeted specifically to the needs of SMB customers, ' he said.

Dantz will continue to operate from its offices in California, and the company's chief executive, Larry Zulch , will report to DeWalt and Mark Lewis , co-leaders of the EMC Software Group.