iStor Breaking Its OEM-only Mold To Build An iSCSI Channel

iStor, Irvine, Calif., develops iSCSI RAID and 10-Gbit Ethernet controllers, as well as iSCSI storage arrays, and has until recently focused its business on OEM customers such as D-Link, Irvine, Calif.-based Variel Technology, and Redwood City, Calif.-based Celeros, said Jessica Wohlers Barlow, director of North American channel sales for the company.

However, without the momentum of big OEM clients, growing the business to the next level is difficult for a smaller vendor, Barlow said. "We want to follow the footsteps of companies like EqualLogic, build our brand, and get exposure to customers," she said.

To reach the channel, iStor has signed up four distributors and systems integrators who can take its technology to solution providers, including Arbitech, Irvine, Calif.; AuraGen Technologies, Costa Mesa, Calif.; Condre Storage, Eden Prairie, Minn.; and RAID, Methuen, Mass.

"We're keeping our OEM business alive, but we want to go to the channel with a complete product," Barlow said. "Until now, our focus was on OEMs. But I was hired in December to start the channel, and in the last couple of weeks we solidified relationships with our distributors."

The iStor line of iSCSI arrays currently sits between iSCSI arrays from Promise Technology, Milpitas, Calif., at the entry-level and EqualLogic, Nashua, N.H., at the midrange, Barlow said. A typical Promise sale might be about $10,000, while a sale for EqualLogic might be $30,000, she said.

"Over the next couple of months we will add snapshot capabilities and high availability so that by late third quarter or early fourth quarter our line will move to be more like an EqualLogic offering," she said.

To prepare for the move upward, iStor this week is unveiling its authorized reseller program to solution providers that complete both sales and technical training.

Authorized resellers can qualify for margins on the arrays of about 20 percent, with an additional 10 percent for opportunities they register through their distributor, Barlow said. They can also qualify for an additional 3 percent rebate paid quarterly that can be used to buy more iStor products, and can participate in market development funds that will be provided to the distributors, she said.

Solution providers can currently resell services from iStor, but the company has just rolled out a program to train solution providers to provide their own services, Barlow said.

Patrick Schmidt, storage product manager at CPU Options, a Brooklyn Park, Minn.-based storage and networking and VoIP solution provider, said his company started selling iStor products in January, and found it to be a very channel-friendly company.

"They've asked us to give them a lot of input," Schmidt said. "They have brought in a lot of channel expertise."

Schmidt said the iStor offering is a good entry-level product that he expects will be able to compete with vendors like EqualLogic once the vendor adds the snapshot technology.