Storage software vendor Nexenta Systems and server vendor Supermicro are working together to build storage arrays for the custom system builder market that provides high-availability clustering in a single physical storage appliance.
Nexenta, Mountain View, Calif., and Supermicro, Fremont, Calif., have jointly pre-certified Supermicro's 3U Super Storage Bridge Bay appliance with Nexenta's software.
The resulting combination of the two technologies will be made available to Supermicro's solution provider channel, said Nexenta CEO Evan Powell.
Supermicro's Super Storage Bridge Bay appliance is a 3U appliance which features a fully redundant, fault-tolerant "Cluster-in-a-box" system. It supports up to 16 3.5-inch hot-swap hard drives, and can be expanded beyond 16 dries with an additional JBOD module.
The Supermicro SSSB provides clustering in a single appliance via two internal server motherboards connected internal via a 10-Gbit Ethernet connection so that if one server mother board fails the other takes over operations.
Nexenta's NexentaStor software provides a full range of enterprise-class storage services, including multiple replication methods and inline data deduplication, Powell said.
Supermicro is the second company to join Nexenta's Technology Partner Program after LSI, which also uses NexentaStor software with its storage appliances, Powell said.
Both Supermicro and LSI are helping Nexenta, which relies on the channel for about 85 percent of its revenue, extend its reach to solution providers.
"We have about 135 channel partners globally," he said. "About 70 percent of them are Supermicro or LSI resellers, or both. But LSI has about 2,000 partners, and Supermicro about 1,400, and so there is room to grow."
NexentaStor is a good solution for solution providers looking for a high-margin storage opportunity, Powell said. The NexentaStor software accounts for only one-tenth the total cost of the total storage appliance. "So our partners can sell storage that outperforms the competition and leaves a lot of room for margins for the partners," he said.
Solution providers looking to work with NexentaStor need to have a certified hardware platform as well as two engineers who have gone through Nexenta training, Powell said.
