StarWind Turns Windows Servers Into SANs

Company:

Headquarters: Burlington, Mass.

Technology Sector: Storage

Key Product: StarWind Enterprise Server

Year Founded: 2003

Number of Channel Partners: 100 worldwide

Ideal Channel Partner: Midmarket-focused solution provider

Why You Should Care: StarWind's software can turn a Microsoft Windows-based server into a low-cost iSCSI SAN.

The Lowdown: Budgeting for a fully functional shared storage or SAN is something that most small and medium sized business just don't have the purse strings for. But that doesn't mean that the functionality a SAN brings to data protection is optional.

StarWind Software, based in Burlington, Mass., has an offering that still fulfills demanding storage requirements while catering to a business with a smaller budget.

"Shared storage is truly magical," said Zorian Rotenberg, CEO of StarWind. "But shared storage costs money. When you go to a name brand company, an entry level box is going to be very expensive."

For solution providers catering to clients that can't fork over the big bucks, the StarWind Enterprise Server software can deliver enterprise SAN capabilities on any standard server running Windows.

"Our software converts a standard Window server -- x86, AMD, Intel, 64- or 32-bit -- into a fully functional SAN with thin provisioning, continuous data protection, mirroring and replication, and the features of a more expensive piece of hardware," said Rotenberg.

The software costs around $3,000, giving smaller, budget-crunched customers an option when storage solutions based on more expensive technology are out of reach.