DataCore Expands Storage Options for Customers with Caringo Deal
Fueled by enterprise deployments of hyperconverged infrastructure, the software-defined storage market is booming. That trend has prompted DataCore Software to acquire object storage specialist Caringo Inc., enabling the buyer to offer block, file and object storage as a single package.
DataCore said its deal for Caringo closed on Jan. 15. Other terms of the acquisition were not disclosed.
Caringo has over the past several years sought to bring to the cloud petabyle-scale data access typically used in HPC deployments. Those software-defined capabilities along with existing customers such as the U.S. Defense Department and Argonne National Laboratory made Caringo an attractive acquisition target.
Caringo’s Swarm platform is aimed at hyperscale data storage and access while addressing data governance requirements and reducing hardware dependencies. The latest version of its data management solution was released in November, including extended functionality for data access across scattered storage resources.
Also upgraded was a network file system designed to make it easier for legacy storage devices and applications to ingest files into the Swarm platform.
DataCore, of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., said the Caringo acquisition would further its efforts to use software-defined storage to unify data spread across on-premise and cloud infrastructure. The company’s distributed file and object storage virtualization platform is also designed to reduce hardware dependences as enterprise infrastructure converges.
“IT organizations are looking for ways to save money,” said DataCore Software CEO Dave Zabrowski. “Yet compliance requirements, increased use of backup, business continuity and the continuous growth of data present a challenge that object storage can solve.”
Market analysts note that the software-defined storage boom is being driven by the relative ease of deploying and operating hyperconverged infrastructure that virtualizes IT hardware. Market tracker Omdia forecasts the software-defined storage market will grow at a 28-percent annual clip through 2023, reaching an estimated $86 billion as demand for standalone storage products and backbone HCI continues to surge.
Caringo, based in Austin, Texas, had raised more than $20 million in several venture funding rounds.
The deal for Caringo beefs up object storage offerings in DataCore’s software-defined storage portfolio, particularly HPC-like hyperscale data storage and access along with petabyte-scale analytics capabilities.
“As enterprises increase their collection of internet of things data, object storage has emerged as the perfect repository for aggregating all this information, allowing ubiquitous access and easy scaling to larger sized data sets,” said Dennis Hahn, data center storage analyst at Omdia.
