Actifio Highlights
- Boston-based storage software company specialising in the management of copy data
- Copy Data Management provides instant data access for a host of enterprise use cases including data protection, business continuity, dev/test, data insights, and active archive
- Version 6.0 enhances features for Cloud Service Providers, automated dev/test data management, mobile management and integration with many Enterprise applications
- A strong set of initial customers
- 130 resellers with users in 22 countries
- Virtualizing data silos, as Vmware does for virtualized servers
- Has to make its disruptive technology fit with conservative Enterprise data centres
Despite the sluggish revenues of the leading storage systems suppliers, Moore’s law and the constant miniaturisation of components drive the capacity of storage ever upwards (see the Figure for our assessment of quarterly growth, which averages around 35% despite the influx of flash in the last few years). Rather than hold to the ‘look how big your problem’s going to get’ Big Data school of analysis, I believe we get the capacity that’s manufactured every year, but pay different amounts depending on the economy and production issues. Despite the capacity growth being high in the first half of 2013, for instance, revenues of hard disk suppliers were down due to a difficult compare with 2012 when the Thailand floods pushed prices up. And one reason storage system vendors have been performing badly is because many users are simply adding hard disks to cheap servers. But I digress …
I met with Andrew Gilman, Head of Global Coporate and Channel Marketing at Actifio at the SNW Show in Frankfurt recently. You’ll want to learn more about how they propose to save data centres time and money by automating the management of copy data.
Who Is Actifio And What Does It Do?
Actifio is a startup founded in Boston in 2009 – a private company funded by venture capital. It has around 240 employees.
Its Copy Data Management (CDM) application was launched in 2010, designed to cut back on the horrendous amounts of copy data being produced by the increasingly complex set of applications driven by the growth of virtualisation. Instead of managing each process as a silo, users deploy Copy Data Management between the production systems and storage arrays, allowing each application and associated data to be monitored. The resultant optimised stream of copy data can then be stored efficiently for backup, archiving, business continuity, disaster recovery, application development, big data insights and other activities.
It is latest 6.0 software release it has:
- Added user-defined scheduled processing of copy data for development/test reporting
- Deeper support for applications including Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange, SAP, Oracle, Solaris, HP-UX, AIX, and IBM I server
- Extended its GUI to iPhones and tablet devices for mobile management
- New features for Cloud service providers (who account for half of its current bookings), including secure separation of multi-tenant, non-disruptive on-boarding, integration with billing systems through RESTful APIs and access controls, encryption-in-flight and other security features
- Self-service support for application development including its LiveClone, which creates streamed independent virtual copies of data
All significant and detailed improvements for such a young product made by listening to customers.
Who Are Its Customers And Partners?
It has some strong partners and customer references – essential as a new entrant into the conservative storage market. In particular:
- Its Web site sports a healthy list of customers, including JBS Australia, SAI Global, ANZ Customer Panel, People’s Choice Credit Union, Dassault Systemes, Admirals Bank, Bryant University, Comtec, Boston University Medical Center and NaviSite
- We believe the majority of Actifio’s sales are made through its 130-strong reseller network
- Actifio has end users in 22 countries and operates in 6 regions
It is active in using these contacts to endorse its approach, which is very different from most other storage software companies.
Some Conclusions – Help With Run Away Costs And Exponential Capacity Growth
Don’t get scared of Big Data – we’re going to be getting more and more storage each year and have the challenge of how to manage how we use it. Actifio’s is trying to be the ‘VMware of storage for copy data automation’. Its approach is very different to backup and archiving software companies such as Symantec and Asigra. Because of that it is likely to find it tough going trying to sell to Enterprises, most of whom are extremely cautious in adopting new approaches and vendors. Although ‘disruptive technology’ is a difficult concept to apply to corporate data, Actifio has answers if you’re storing multiple copies of the same data and trying to manage exponential capacity growth.