NewWave Bundles Storage, Content Management for Solution Providers

Gaithersburg, Md.-based NewWave, which specializes in document imaging, is bundling WORM (write once, read many) and non-WORM tape libraries from Qualstar, a Simi Valley, Calif.-based library vendor, with software from U.K.-based XenData.

XenData's software manages data generated from applications such as document imaging, check imaging, e-mail archiving, and medical imaging, said Phil Storey, XenData CEO. The software treats RAID arrays and WORM and non-WORM tape libraries as a single pool of storage, allowing system administrators to set policies for migrating data to lower cost storage, he said.

Qualstar has been building tape libraries featuring AIT drives with WORM technology since May, and plans to introduce Super AIT-based libraries in January, said Mark Gilmore, vice president of sales for Qualstar.

NewWave has not offered tape libraries for some time, but saw the value of the WORM drives bundled with the XenData software in light of Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA, Gilmore said.

Dan Filipek, national sales manager at NewWave, said the new bundle is an opportunity for his company's 5,000 solution providers to focus on high-margin storage opportunities.

Our imaging resellers are at "the point where they were highly specialized on the front end, but let the storage business go to a systems integrator," Filipek said. "But as they see margins slip, it makes sense for them to get into the back-end. Bundles are easy for them to understand and to work with regulatory concerns, especially Sarbanes-Oxley."

Solution provider training on the Qualstar/XenData bundle is expected to start early next year, said Filipek. His company also plans to include training on iSCSI technology from another vendor, StoneFly, that will be applicable to the bundle, he said.

Chris Karcher, president of The Karcher Group, a Chantilly, Va.-based solution provider, called NewWave an excellent distribution partner, one that is quick with value-added assistance for imaging and storage products.

However, Karcher said, while his company sees the importance of storage and archiving for regulatory and compliance purposes, it is not moving blindly into the space without first exploring potential legal problems.

"We see a lot of interest in that space," he said. "But the legal requirements are very important. I'm not the kind of guy to jump into a new market. We probably need lawyers to get into this market."