The battle between Dell and Hewlett-Packard over storage company 3PAR continued Friday when Dell announced that 3PAR had accepted its $1.8 billion bid.

The battle between Dell and Hewlett-Packard over storage company 3PAR continued Friday when Dell announced that 3PAR had accepted its $1.8 billion bid.

The deal was reached thanks to a provision in the two companies' existing agreement that allowed Dell to match competing bids, Dell said.

That competing bid came courtesy of HP. In the wake of Dell's Aug. 16 announcement that it would acquire 3PAR for $1.15 billion, HP then . Dell on Thursday increased its price to $1.6 billion, and announced that 3PAR had accepted that price, but HP then proposed a $1.8 billion offer.

No word from HP if it will end the week with an even higher bid.

Dell said it continues to believe that a 3PAR acquisition will enhance its position in utility-storage solutions.

UPDATE: HP on Friday increased its bid to $2 billion.