Gurdip Kalley, Head of Business Development at S3


EtherDrive HBAs


 1 GbE and 10 GbE dual port PCIe Ethernet host bus adapters  Provide end-to-end server to storage networking solution


Q And how do these address the current key issues such as virtualisation and The Cloud?


AKB: Virtualization has brought undeniable benefits to enterprise IT—reduced costs, server consolidation,


increased flexibility, automated management and more. Unfortunately, all of the cost and agility benefits of enterprise virtualization come to a screeching halt when data reaches the storage network. In fact, legacy storage networking technologies such as Fibre Channel, Fibre Channel over Ethernet (FCoE), and iSCSI all evolved from mainframe-era designs. Mainframe protocols like FICON and ESCON ran on Fibre Channel, and the array designs grew out of this tradition. They require expensive custom networks, and manual configuration of every connection between servers and storage. Providing new storage to a VM takes hours of work, and days or weeks clock time, instead of a few clicks.


Coraid’s new class of Ethernet SAN storage mirrors the agility and economics of the cloud. The product protocol grew out of the Linux market, where it has been open and native in the Linux kernel since 2005. By 2009, Ethernet SAN technology was integrated with VMware, and had been adopted by more than 1,300 customers worldwide. This new generation of SAN storage, built on Layer 2 Ethernet and off-the-shelf storage servers, delivers faster performance than Fibre Channel at less than 20% of the cost, while eliminating multiple layers of complex storage management. Storage arrays can be deployed in as little as 60 seconds.


Q What is Coraid’s presence in Europe right now? And how will this be developed?


AKB: Coraid has over 350 customers in Europe today. Marcos Burnett has recently joined as Director of EMEA


and Paul Haddow as our EMEA SE Manager. Over the coming months we plan to enable and train our partners to evangelize the benefits in Ethernet Storage across Europe. Our channel program is designed for channel partners who deliver full solution stack value to their customers, and our team is dedicated to ensuring their success. In order to do this effectively we focus on quality rather than quantity.


Q And how is Coraid working with The Channel in Europe?


AKB: Coraid has a completely channel-centric business and transacts 100% of our business through our partners. Coraid partners can currently achieve either Silver or Gold


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partner status, based on a number of factors including sales levels and marketing support. We work very closely with key channel partners such as S3 to ensure that our products address high-priority requirements with maximum value and ease-of-use.


Q In terms of industry coverage – what are Coraid’s current sweet spots – and where is there room for expansion?


AKB: Coraid’s EtherDrive storage is a trusted brand used by customers in sectors including manufacturing, life


sciences, software services, healthcare, education, financial services, government and military agencies, and cloud hosting companies. Our key market segments include, virtualization, video and network surveillance, cloud storage, and high-performance computing/research. Starting in 2010, the company has focused on adding enterprise-class storage management features to support Tier-1 data center requirements, and I think you’ll see us gain increased traction with those customers.


Q What is the relationship between S3 and Coraid?


AGK: S3 have recently signed up as a UK partner with Coraid. S3 have identified Coraid as a key technology to sit alongside its existing storage portfolio. S3 has had previous success working with start ups such as DataDomain and Isilon and hopes to repeat this with Coraid.


Q And how did this come about, and how do you see it developing?


AGK: As Head of Business Development at S3 it is my responsibility to ensure we remain ahead of our


competition and serve our customer base by remaining relevant and innovative. Our existing and long standing vendor relationships are core to our business but we are always on the look out for disruptive and “game changing” technologies. We expect to achieve Gold partner status within no time at all and go on to emulate our success with Isilon in quickly becoming Coraid’s most successful partner outside of the US.


www.s3.co.uk www.coraid.com


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