Startup Siafu Preps Scalable iSCSI Appliances With Encryption
Matze’s earlier venture, Okapi Software, was acquired by Overland Storage in 2003. San Diego-based Siafu--named after the Swahili word for red ants whose bite is so strong they are sometimes used as sutures--is developing low-cost iSCSI appliances that scale in performance and capacity as more units are connected, he said.
The appliances are built on off-the-shelf hardware using iSCSI software from Tripylon Networks, which Siafu acquired Monday for an undisclosed sum. Tripylon develops iSCSI target software for turning standard servers into iSCSI storage appliances. Tripylon founder B.J. Jalali, who will serve as COO of Siafu, said the software allows the building of appliances that can scale from entry-level to enterprise-class.
"You can start with one box," Jalali said. "When you add a second box, it shows automatically on the management software. You can carve the storage up as needed, and it scales both in performance and management as you add more boxes."
Tripylon's software, which going forward will be available only via Siafu, allows the easy building of iSCSI clusters with automatic fail-over, Matze said. It is based on Windows and not on Linux or Linux-derived operating systems. "We feel most iSCSI users use Windows," he said.
The Siafu iSCSI appliances will come with optional data encryption based on technology from Los Gatos, Calif.-based Hifn, a developer of network processing, compression and security technologies used by such companies as Cisco Systems.
Siafu also plans an iSCSI bridge with tape encryption technology, according to Matze. "It will be one-third the price of appliances from [Milpitas, Calif.-based] NeoScale and one-tenth the price of Decru," he said.
John Thome, vice president of Chi, a Cleveland-based solution provider, called Siafu's scalable iSCSI technology a wonderful idea. "This is something you can go back to every one of your customers with," he said. "You can mention the recent news stories about tape losses and tell customers you have a solution that is affordable."
Matze is strong in both the technology and channel sides, Thome added. "As long as I've known him, he's been channel-friendly," he said.
John Zammett, president of HorizonTek, a Huntington, N.Y.-based solution provider, said he is glad to see Matze back in the market and coming out with iSCSI appliances. Zammett said he knew Matze back when his first company, Okapi, was showing its software-only iSCSI solution to the channel.
"When he first came to HorizonTek, he brought in the software," Zammett said. "We told him that disk-to-disk and iSCSI are great, but we don't integrate. And guys like us don't integrate. So three months later, he came back with an integrated solution. Then he went to work with Overland Storage, which in my mind has the best channel program in the industry. He's seen what the channel can do for him and has a history of listening to us."
Siafu plans to show beta versions of its appliances in early April and to ship them in June, Matze said. Plans call for an entry-level model--which he called a basic "bit bucket"--that’s expected to list for less than $5,000 with 2 Tbytes of capacity, as well as a high-end, high-performance model with 7.5 Tbytes that lists for about $25,000.