Headquarters: Cambridge, Mass.

Technology Sector: Storage

Key Product: Seanodes Exanodes

Year Founded: 2002

Number of Channel Partners: 20 worldwide

Ideal Channel Partner: SMB-focused solution providers

Why You Should Care: Seanodes utilizes "wasted" internal storage, putting it to work with no additional hardware.

The Lowdown: Seanodes Exanodes provides the full benefits of server virtualization for customers without requiring them to invest in expensive storage hardware or master advanced software. Its ease of integration in VMWare environments makes it suitable for an entry-level virtualization solution that is scalable, said Frank Gana, director of business development at Seanodes.

"Our solution reduces costs by a factor of five to 10, and it sells more servers or VMware licenses for the VAR as it reduces customers' costs," Gana said. He noted that during the current economic climate, showing clients how to lower costs and create efficiencies can lead to larger sales opportunities in the future.

"What resellers like is we give them leads on a monthly basis. It's a good way to open the door to a prospect," Gana said. "Everyone has experienced storage complexity, so it's a very good way to generate attention from the user. It is an enabler that facilitates the entree to a customer's account. You already own all the storage you need, you are just not using it effectively, or at all."

Exanodes converts unused internal disks and Direct Attached Storage into a shared storage array, called Shared Internal Storage (SIS). SIS lets users share disks and arrays directly attached to, or embedded in, servers as if they were part of an external array.

Seanodes is currently adding VARs to its roster, Gana said.