HPE Finally Picks Start-Up WekaIO

HPE is still looking for a scalable file storage able to deliver high performance and resiliency at scale.

As Elastifile announced recently a business agreement with Dell EMC, it starts to be urgent for HPE to do serious things. Choosing WekaIO is a good choice finally.

Historically HPE acquired PolyServe in 2007 and Ibrix in 2009 and, as usual, killed these products illustrating again that HPE has(d) some real difficulties to digest and to continue the development of acquired products. The only exception in HPE storage portfolio is 3Par, it was and it’s a real success.

Also, HPE with the Pathfinder investment force has invested in SDS companies but none of them plays in this high performance and scalable file storage category so the company recognizes they need something new. One of these – Coho Data – even disappeared from the market but also from the Pathfinder web site.

Following our recent article about WekaIO, we understand that the file system developer and HPE are joining force and sign an OEM agreement. It’s not official yet but should be revealed during SC17 as WekaIO will be on HPE booth and has two sessions during HP-CAST #29 just before the HPC show. There is also a section in the agenda, on November 10, dedicated to HPC and AI/big data product lines with restricted attendance.

This is huge for WekaIO and it will boost for sure their market footprint. For HPE, it shows, once again, their desire to play a serious role in this segment wishing to not lose positions against others.

The battle is on among these few top players in scalable file storage companies:

Avere Systems present at SC17 and recognized as a fast ‘next gen filer’,
Elastifile with the recent business agreement with Dell EMC,
Qumulo already also a key HPE partner and also present at SC17,
Rozo Systems with recent Dell partner program,
and now WekaIO with HPE.

Don’t be surprised as we understand at least three levels of partnership here with OEM, reseller and partner program, the first indicates clearly their importance for big companies filling a hole.

We expect more announcements in this segment soon from OEM deals to M&A. 2018 will be definitely interesting.

Read also:
Start-Up Profile: Weka.IO
In software eliminating silos of NAS and SAN with commodity compute infrastructure and SSDs
by Jean Jacques Maleval | 2016.12.26 | News