Storage Startup To Partners: Walk This Way

Crosswalk is looking to build a channel program based on its Crosswalk Storage Manager, which helps simplify the administration of midsize storage environments by finding all the hardware on a SAN and tracking how data moves through the network.

The Westminster, Colo.-based startup has released the second version of Crosswalk Storage Manager and is embarking on a solution provider-only sales strategy, said John LoPorto, vice president of sales.

Crosswalk Storage Manager offers tools to manage a SAN and includes three parts.

First, Crosswalk Resource Manager, based on software licensed from Tek-Tools, Dallas, lets solution providers get detailed information about data files. Based on that information, the software can project future storage and backup needs and improve server and storage utilization, said Eric Gilbert, marketing director at Crosswalk.

Second, Crosswalk SAN Manager, based on Broomfield, Colo.-based McData's SAN Navigator, discovers and visualizes all devices on a SAN regardless of manufacturer via a single GUI.

Third, Crosswalk Knowledge Server uses information from one or both of the other two applications and allows them to work with third-party management tools. Customers can buy Resource Manager or SAN Manager or both, Gilbert said.

Todd Holcomb, director of business assurance services at Evolving Solutions, a Hamel, Minn.-based solution provider, said Crosswalk Storage Manager is the first comprehensive set of tools he has seen for the midrange storage market.

To get the same monitoring and reporting capabilities as Crosswalk Storage Manager, solution providers might have to look to the enterprise space to find a SAN analyzer, a storage resource manager application and SAN management software, and then go through the pain of integrating them, said Holcomb.

"[Crosswalk] has found a way to follow the path of data, find it, see who accessed it, see where it's been, and what the future looks like," Holcomb said.

LoPorto said Crosswalk has implemented a program to bring in more solution providers. Included are live co-branded Webinars that partners can offer potential customers, and the use of a third-party provider to generate qualified leads based on specific customer projects.

In addition, Crosswalk plans to finalize its deal-registration program, and it will offer a tool that solution providers can use to help evaluate a customer's ROI with a Crosswalk solution, LoPorto said.