SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--StorSimple, the leading provider of Windows- optimized cloud storage technology, enters 2011 with significant momentum as a result of a break out year in 2010. The company capped the year by shipping its StorSimple 5010 and 7010 appliances, which were just named finalists for the SearchStorage.com Enterprise Product of the Year Awards in the “Disks and Disk Subsystems” category. This followed other company milestones that included new investment from the original backer of 3PAR, new management team members, new customers and premier Microsoft partner status.
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StorSimple takes cloud storage one step further
At the Gartner Data Center conference in December, StorSimple shipped its 5000 and 7000 series of hybrid cloud storage appliances. The devices bring SSD performance and cloud elasticity to Microsoft environments with an application-optimization plug-in architecture. The unique approach to block level primary content deduplication reduces storage requirements by up to 90 percent. StorSimple’s BlockRankTM technology automatically applies a priority to each block and automatic tiering keeps the working set on SSD, increasing performance even for very large multi-terabyte data sets. The cloud-as-a-tier architecture and WAN optimization dramatically reduces time for cloud backup and recovery, and also enables disaster recovery to multiple geographically distributed locations.
Strategic Microsoft relationship yields cloud storage firsts
StorSimple is a member of Microsoft’s BizSpark One program. The BizSpark One program is an invitation-only program uniquely designed to accelerate the growth of a select group of high- potential startups through a one-to-one relationship with Microsoft Corp. and a global community of advisors, investors and peers. Through this relationship, StorSimple passed the Windows Hardware Quality Labs testing, achieving the most stringent Certified for Windows Server 2008 R2 level. This means that Windows servers can now connect and store data and content in the cloud, in a Microsoft-certified way, for the first time.
In addition, StorSimple recently ran a 1 Terabyte SharePoint benchmark to demonstrate the performance of the appliance for Microsoft applications. Further details are available at http://www.storsimple.com/sharepoint-benchmark/.
“StorSimple exemplifies the new breed of exciting enterprise cloud companies,” said Matthew Clark, senior director, Startup Engagement for the Strategic and Emerging Business Team at Microsoft. “We think StorSimple, as a member of BizSpark One, Microsoft’s invite-only program for the highest potential emerging businesses on the Microsoft platform, is going to make a big impact in the market.”
Is StorSimple the next 3PAR?
StorSimple’s disruptive potential was recognized early on by its original investors, which included Mike Volpi of Index Ventures and Satish Dharmaraj of Redpoint Ventures. In September, Mayfield Fund, the original investor in 3PAR, validated this potential by leading a Series B round of funding totaling $13 million, bringing total investment in StorSimple to $21 million. At the same time, the company added Dr. Ian Howells, formerly with Alfresco, Ingres, Documentum and SeeBeyond, as Chief Marketing Officer.
“As early investors in 3PAR, we have witnessed a decade of disruptive technologies in the storage space," said Navin Chaddha, managing director at Mayfield Fund. "StorSimple provides iSCSI for the cloud with instant thin provisioning, primary de-duplication, cloud-clones and cloud snaps for fast off-site backups and is well positioned to lead the Big Content trend in enterprises."
It wasn’t only top-tier investors that recognized StorSimple’s potential. The company was named by Dow Jones as one of the “Top 50 Startups to Watch.” Chosen from among the hundreds of emerging companies to receive funding in 2010, StorSimple was the only enterprise storage vendor to be selected. The company backed up this accolade by winning UP-Con’s “Most Promising” cloud computing technology award. StorSimple was named the winner from among seven finalists that included startups from several different cloud computing market segments by a panel comprised of leading VCs and analysts.
About StorSimple
StorSimple has developed an application-optimized hybrid cloud storage solution for Microsoft SharePoint, Microsoft Exchange, Windows Files Services, Virtual Machines, and Virtual Desktop Infrastructure that delivers consistent storage performance at scale, significantly simplifies data protection, and reduces cost by up to 90 percent compared to traditional enterprise storage used with these applications. StorSimple is based in Silicon Valley and is funded by Ignition Partners, Index Ventures, Mayfield Fund, and Redpoint Ventures.