One to Watch: BlueArc runs circles around competition
By Jennifer Lewis
Red Herring
May 23, 2001
This article is from the June 1, 2001, issue of Red Herring magazine.
When Geoff Barrall worked as a consultant, his customers would complain that even after upgrading their networks to fiber optics, they failed to see an improvement in speed. The problem, it turned out, wasn't the network, but the server. The speed of most networks has surpassed the throughput speed of existing servers; but in order to get data from storage to users, it has to pass through a server.
When Mr. Barrall couldn't find a product for his customers, he decided to create one -- and BlueArc was born. The company built a network attached storage (NAS) device that delivers the full 2 GB of throughput available on users' networks.
Mr. Barrall, a Ph.D. in cybernetics, knew he couldn't build a gigabit-speed storage architecture with off-the-shelf components; he had to develop a device more like a switch or router, with hardware architecture. He recruited engineers with storage and networking expertise to design BlueArc's Silicon Server architecture.
ARC DE TRIOMPHE
BlueArc, based in Mountain View, California, says its Silicon Server obtains data five to ten times faster than devices from EMC (NYSE: EMC) or Network Appliance (Nasdaq: NTAP). According to the company, its server can handle 100 times as many simultaneous connections as competing devices, and it can manage 200 terabytes of data, or 30 times the capacity of its rivals' products. In April, it went on the market for $100,000 -- the same price as Network Appliance's Filer, a competing NAS product.
"The BlueArc product is very fast and takes up less space in our data center than NetApp's NAS device," says Michael Jennings, vice president of operations at Appshop, a Fremont, California, service provider that was one of BlueArc's beta customers.
Mr. Barrall says the BlueArc server is unique because its hardware gives it speed and its software gives it reprogrammable flexibility. With fewer components and better performance, this storage architecture operates at wire speed between Gigabit Ethernet on the network side and gigabit Fibre Channel on the storage side.
BlueArc's technology helped spur Enrico Pesatori to leave his position as senior vice president of Compaq to become president and CEO of BlueArc in May 2000. Another lure was the growing network storage market, which the market research firm IDC projects will grow from $8.1 billion in 2000 to $35.7 billion in 2004. In April, BlueArc raised $70 million in third-round funding from Apax Partners, Celtic House, Patricof & Co. Ventures, and Weston Presidio Capital, bringing its total capital raised to $106.5 million.
"If they can produce what they are claiming," says Roger Cox, chief analyst at the research consultancy Gartner Dataquest, "they have an outstanding breakthrough product." |
