This is one bid for a data storage company that Dell wasn’t about to lose. The computer giant has agreed to buy data storage company Compellent Technologies, Inc., for about $960 million in cash, strengthening its cloud computing and storage prowess against formidable rivals including Hewlett-Packard and IBM.

“Compellent is a natural complement to Dell’s expanding enterprise storage portfolio. The Compellent storage platform will enable Dell to provide customers additional mid- and high-end network storage solutions that simplify and reduce the cost of data management,” said Brad Anderson, Dell’s senior vice president of the Enterprise Product Group. “Compellent’s design focus on intelligently managing data to increase efficiency, agility and resiliency is consistent with Dell’s approach of building solutions that can quickly scale to meet the most demanding enterprise environment.”

Dell will pay $27.75 per share in cash for each share of Compellent for a total equity value of approximately $960 million, and aggregate purchase price of approximately $820 million, net of Compellent’s cash. The transaction, which is subject to approval by Compellent’s shareholders and customary closing conditions, is expected to close in early 2011.

In early September, Dell finally threw in the towel on a drawn-out bidding war for another storage provider, 3PAR. The company called its quits after HP upped its offer to roughly $2.1 billion, representing $33 per share, an increase from the prior offer of $30 per share. 3PAR issued a statement calling the new offer from H-P a “superior proposal.”

TechZone360.com reported that 3PAR said it had notified Dell of its intention to terminate the merger agreement with Dell immediately, in order to enter into a merger agreement with HP. In turn, Dell confirmed that its “final offer” to acquire 3PAR was not accepted by 3PAR’s board of directors. Dell’s final offer included a proposed commercial relationship and an increased break-up fee.

“We took a measured approach throughout the process and have decided to end these discussions,” Dave Johnson, Dell’s senior vice president, corporate strategy, said in a statement at the time. “We will continue to put the interests of our customers and shareholders at the forefront of all our decisions,” added Brian Gladden, Dell’s chief financial officer. “Our focus is to create long-term value.