Isilon Reportedly In Talks To Be Acquired By EMC For Over $2B

EMC (EMC) is in “exclusive talks” to acquired Isilon Systems (ISLN) for more than $2 billion, the New York Post reports. The Post qutoes “a source close to the situation” as saying “the deal will be done this year.” ISLN closed last week with a market cap of about $1.8 billion.

The story says Isilon has hired Frank Quattrone’s Qatalyst Group as an adviser.

The report also says that EMC-controlled VMware (VMW) is in “exclusive talks” – there’s that phrase again – to buy the Suse Linux business from Novell (NOVL).

This morning:

• ISLN is up $1.28, or 4.6%, to $29.
• EMC is down 3 cents at $21.06.
• VMW is up 26 cents, or 0.3%, to $77.89.
• NOVL is down 6 cents, or 1.1%, to $6.01.