Kaminario Transitions to Software Business Model Only
Tech Data chosen to provide hardware
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on January 19, 2018 at 2:26 pmKaminario Technologies Ltd. is transitioning to a software-centric business model and partnering with Tech Data Corporation to streamline operations, while focusing its resources on continued software innovation.
Tech Data is an end-to-end distributor of technology products, services and solutions around the world. The agreement will allow Tech Data to provide supply chain, integration and product support services for Kaminario’s composable data platform solutions, including the Kaminario K2 all-flash array.
This alliance represents a strategic business model shift for Kaminario, combining software-defined storage technology with Tech Data’s product and supply chain expertise to deliver integrated hardware-software all-flash storage appliances at a disruptive price point.
The K2 all-flash array received the highest ranking for three out of five use cases compared to 19 products evaluated in Gartner’s 2017 Critical Capabilities for Solid State Arrays Report.
Kaminario’s composable data platform delivers scalable, all-flash storage solutions for public, private and hybrid cloud data centers. K2 combines the Kaminario VisionOS software operating platform with a certified reference hardware stack into an integrated appliance.
Company’s channel-first go-to-market strategy leverages a network of over 200 technology resellers signed onto Kaminario ACCELERATE, a global channel partner program.
This alliance delivers resellers and end customers all the value of K2 with the software-defined economics typically seen only by hyper-scale cloud providers.
“The cloud computing paradigm and demand for automated data centers are changing the nature of enterprise IT,” said Dani Golan, CEO, Kaminario. “This business model shift, enabled by our partnership with Tech Data, positions us to deliver the economics and flexible consumption models that cloud providers need with absolutely no compromises on our well-proven technology capability.”
“Tech Data provides product lifecycle management services for technology companies that want to focus on their core competencies,” said John O’Shea, SVP, global lifecycle management services, Americas, Tech Data. “Our alliance with Kaminario helps them to deliver a complete solution to their customers by leveraging Tech Data’s global logistics network and comprehensive integration and product support services.”
Kaminario’s latest generation of the K2 all-flash array is now available to all resellers through Tech Data and includes Kaminario VisionOS and the Kaminario Clarity support, analytics and management platform. Kaminario K2.N and Kaminario Flex, when generally available, will also be offered through Tech Data. Kaminario will continue to provide centralized support management for all datacenter implementations based on its software.
Read also:
Gartner: Critical Capabilities for Solid-State Arrays
Kaminario K2, HDS VSP F, IBM V9000 and Violin Memory 7000 leaders in performance
2017.01.19 | Press Release
Kaminario: K2.N All-Flash Storage Solutions Based on NVMe and Flex Software
Provide composable storage infrastructure delivering increased performance, scalability and agility for private cloud environments.
2017.08.18 | Press Release
Comments
Recognized as one op the top companies in all-flash arrays for several years and synonym of high performance, Kaminario just announced an important company business model shift from full solution to a pure software play. Again a good example of the famous slogan "software is eating the world."
This shift to a software business model is not a surprise but more a confirmation of a current trend in the storage industry already illustrating by players such Nutanix (HCI), Qumulo (file storage) and Vexata (block storage), the two latter adding a pure software flavor to their offering.
The surprise is more related to the partner they select - Tech Data - making a clear choice on the distribution and market penetration effort, probably pushed also by investors who wish to see faster results. Remember the company was founded 8 years ago.
The choice of Tech Data is driven by its multiple capabilities such supply chain, integration and product support. It also means that the 200 resellers will now move under Tech Data control.
We don't know if this agreement prevents Kaminario to sign OEM deals as finally other hardware chain could be fulfilled by these partners.
Moving in the software space should allow Kaminario to consider such sales channel but we don't know if the deal with Tech Data is exclusive or not.
Tech Data has been chosen to provide K2 and K2.N hardware line at a better price point thanks to its capabilities to buy components as a better price, and Kaminario the software intelligence with VisionOS, Clarity, the analytics engine, and Flex, the composable platform that should be available second part of this year.
Wow it’s a radical change as Kaminario sells a full solution since its inception.
To reflect this, in press releases, the company introduces itself now as a leading cloud storage software company, it was promoted in 2017 and even before as a leading all-flash storage company, indicating the nature of the product they developed and sold for several years. Now, with the new positioning, it’s more vague but promotes a direction, flash term disappeared, leading and storage stay but cloud and software are introduced. Not sure why leading word is maintained, the term was justified and proven in the past, the 'new' one has to be proven in the coming quarters.
The company has recruited Todd Gresham in May according to his LinkedIn page, but announced his arrival last November, as chief strategy officer. We could think that Kaminario was in a period of deep thoughts associated with the last VC round of $95 million in January 2017. We could even imagine a sort of urgency in the company 'classic' business with new competitions and market pressure. So a new era had to be found to start 2018 fresh.
Founded in 2010, Kaminario has raised so far $218 million in seven rounds and surprisingly still independent.
We understood that firm's value comes from their product architecture, software services, design and performance and of course the team behind that. With recent announcements such new VisionOS operating system, Clarity, Flex, K2.N and the wish to segregate hardware from software, the decision is globally a natural path in a very competitive market segment.
On the hardware side, Kaminario has made some very clever choices with NVMe SSDs, Mellanox and Broadcom network elements, Supermicro and Intel that will simplify Tech Data's life.
This decision also confirmed that the value come from software, making really difficult to find differences between offerings, all moving towards standards, coming from the same few manufacturers.
On the human side, this shift also means that Kaminario will reduce its team, improving profitability and showing better operational ratios.
The software-defined storage wave has impacted all the storage industry pushed by the pressure of the cloud and big three - AWS, Azure and GCP -, commodity hardware reality, cost and new comers. For storage arrays and derivatives such all-flash and more recently NVMeF based storage solutions, it is promoted by vendors including Apeiron Data Systems, E8 Storage, Mangstor or Pavilion Data Systems, shaking established incumbents positions, even recent ones. Kaminario goes finally in the SDS Block space identified for a few years.
The key question is in fact not related to the product but more for the revenue projection such shift could generate and if it will compensate the previous revenue stream. It reminds us difficulties software vendors had with SaaS players such on-prem CRM against Salesforce to list a famous example.
We'll see more and more such movements in 2018 and later with various pressures.
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