Software has now become the tool to make the hardware in the IT sector more efficient as operators look to manage their ever increasing resources around the world. Network operators and data centers are using software defined networking and network function virtualization to make this possible, but the concept has also moved to storage. Software-defined storage (SDS) is looking to introduce the same level of efficiency to address the massive amount of data we are generating today. And one of the leading companies in the segment is Hedvig, which just announced the close of a $21.5 million Series C funding round, bringing its total to date to $52 million. According to the company, it is going to use this investment to expand into Asia, advance development of end-to-end solutions and build its team.
Just like the other software based models in hardware optimization, SDS takes the emphasis out of the hardware. This approach decouples the programming that controls storage-related tasks from the physical storage hardware. The goal is to give administrators more control and flexibility using programming so resources can be used with greater efficiency while simplifying the administration through an automated policy-based management. It eliminates the need for manual configuration of the operational process through the separation of the underlying hardware.
The software-defined storage market is still evolving, and Hedvig is an early player that is getting considerable attention as the storage segment is figuring out the potential of this technology. According to ReportsnReports, SDS is set to grow at a CAGR of 31.62 percent during the period of 2016-2020.
Hedvig founder and CEO Avinash Lakshman addressed the incredible demand in the digital ecosystem, and the need for the storage industry to adopt a software-based model. He says, “It's a wake-up call for the storage industry and a signal that a flexible, simple software-defined storage solution is needed for primary and secondary storage in the era of cloud. We'll build on our early customer success in key financial services, service provider, manufacturing, energy and retail markets by continuing to innovate in both cloud and backup capabilities. With this latest investment, we are poised to grab the No. 1 spot in the fragmented software-defined storage market.”
The SDS Hedvig provides is designed for enterprises building private, hybrid, or multi-cloud environments, and, according to the company, it is the only solution designed for both primary and secondary data, so it can be used for legacy, modern, and backup workloads. It forms a distributed, scale-out cluster that transforms commodity servers or cloud computing into a flexible foundation for bare metal, hypervisor, and container infrastructure with its patented Universal Data Plane technology.
Edited by
Alicia Young
