10 Virtualization Startups Getting Attention Right Now

Still Simmering

Many virtualization startups are busily remaking themselves as cloud players, but within the nonstop chatter there are ones that still call what they do 'virtualization.' Database and network virtualization are coming on strong, while virtualization management and monitoring aren't doing too shabby either. Following are 10 virtualization startups that are getting attention in the industry at the moment.

1. Greenbytes

CEO: Steve O'Donnell

GreenBytes, through the storage wizardry of deduplication technology, allows Flash storage to work in virtual desktop environments, addressing what has been one of the main stumbling blocks for VDI projects. Founded in 2007, GreenBytes sells an appliance, called IO-Offload, to telcos and MSPs around the world. Another product, vIO, is a virtual storage appliance with technology from IO-Offload.

VCs are waking up to the potential of the technology: Greenbytes scored $7 million in Series C funding in early April from Generation Investment Management LLP and Battery Ventures.

2. Midokura

CEO: Dan Mihai Dumitriu

Midokura, a network virtualization startup born in Japan, scored $17.3 million in VC funding in early April, led by Innovation Network Corporation of Japan. Midokura's brand of network virtualization technology is a software overlay that makes it possible to provision virtual switches, routers, firewalls and load balancers and connect them to virtual machines.

3. Intigua

CEO: Shimon Hason

Intigua, a virtualization management startup, uses virtual containers to speed provisioning and updating of agents. In addition to enabling the software-defined data center and setting up organizations for IT-as-a-service, Intigua says it improves network uptime, performance and security. Intigua landed $8.6 million in Series A financing in January, led by Bessemer Venture Partners.

4. Pluribus Networks

CEO: Robert Drost

Based in Palo Alto, Calif., Pluribus Networks bills itself on its website as a vendor of "hardware-accelerated network virtualization for private and public cloud data centers." Using a combination of software and hardware, Pluribus Networks aims to provide a platform for cloud and big data apps.

Pluribus Networks has raised more than $44 million in venture capital funding to date, from investors including Menlo Ventures, New Enterprise Associates and China Broadband Capital, among others.

5. ParElastic

CEO: Ken Rugg

Founded in 2010 by former employees of database vendors Object Design and Netezza, ParElastic uses virtualization to multiply the capacity of standard relational database servers such as MySQL. The Waltham, Mass.-based vendor's Database Virtualization Engine is currently in beta.

ParElastic has raised $2.5 million in venture capital to date from General Catalyst Partners, LaunchCapital, Point Judith Capital and CommonAngels.

6. Ravello Systems

CEO: Rami Tamir

Ravello Systems was founded in 2010 by Rami Tamir and Benny Schnaider, creators of the KVM hypervisor used by Red Hat and others. Its primary product, which it calls a Cloud Application Hypervisor, bundles virtual machines together with their associated networking and storage resources so they can run on any cloud without any code changes.

Palo Alto, Calif.-based Ravello Systems has raised $26 million in VC funding to date from Sequoia Capital, Norwest Venture Partners and Bessemer Venture Partners.

7. Delphix

CEO: Jedidiah Yueh

Delphix, a Menlo Park, Calif.-based database virtualization startup, is run by a host of executives with impressive resumes. Its CEO, Jedidiah Yueh, founded data deduplication vendor Avamar and sold it to EMC in 2006 for $165 million. Adam Leventhal, CTO, and Eric Schrock, vice president of engineering, both spent time in Sun's Fishworks group, which created the ZFS Storage Appliance.

Delphix landed $25 million in Series C funding last June led by Jafco Ventures, with participation from Summit Partners and Battery Ventures. It has raised $45.5 million to date.

8. Hotlink

CEO: Lynn LeBlanc

Hotlink builds bridges of management for heterogeneous data center infrastructure, in so doing earning itself a reputation as the Switzerland of data center infrastructure management. Hybrid Express, HotLink's software for managing private and public cloud resources, connects VMware vCenter and Microsoft System Center with Amazon EC2.

HotLink, Santa Clara, Calif., was founded in 2010 by the founders of FastScale Technology, which VMware parent company EMC acquired in 2009.

9. PHD Virtual

CEO: James Legg

PHD Virtual, a Philadelphia-based vendor, works with VMware and Citrix environments to provide backup and monitoring of physical, virtual and cloud environments. Earlier this month PHD Virtual bolstered its portfolio by acquiring VirtualSharp, a cloud disaster recovery startup. PHD Virtual also announced a $4 million round of funding led by Insight Venture Partners and Citrix, the original investors in the startup.

10. Proximal Data

CEO: Rory Bolt

Proximal Data, based in San Diego, makes AutoCache software, which prevents I/O bottlenecks in virtual server environments by caching storage across virtual machines. Its leadership team includes CEO and founder Rory Bolt, who was previously with NetApp and EMC Avamar; and chief scientist Clay Mayers, who was previously with EMC Captiva.

Earlier this month Proximal Data landed a $2 million VC funding round led by Divergent Ventures, with participation from Avalon Ventures. The startup has raised $5 million since its founding in 2011.