Coraid offers a full range of block, file and storage management and automation products that deliver breakthrough elasticity and simplicity at scale using a new generation of Ethernet-based storage networking. Coraid EtherDrive storage arrays feature a scale-out architecture that uses commodity hardware and a distributed operating system to pool storage resources into a single logical system.
In 2012, Coraid unveiled its EtherCloud platform for software-defined storage. Built on technology from the company’s acquisition of Yunteq in late 2011, EtherCloud enhances business agility in the modern data centre by radically simplifying delivery of scale-out infrastructure. “We have seen radical shifts in compute and networking infrastructure in the past few years away from monolithic, hardware-focused architectures to software-defined scale-out resources that are managed and controlled entirely through software,” said Kevin Brown, CEO of Coraid. “It is now time for this transformation to come to storage as well.”
While other vendors talking about software-defined storage are still in the vision and planning stages and have very limited customer adoption, EtherCloud has already been successfully deployed by more than 50 customers across the world. EtherCloud offers a rich set of features that enable simplicity at scale, including:
Pools of storage that can be automatically created and grown on demand
Multi-tenancy
Integration with LDAP/AD for authentication
One-click instantiation of VMware ESXi virtual machines, integrated with storage allocation and networking connectivity
Metering of compute, network and storage use
The ability to integrate with open networking and cloud frameworks, as well as with a variety of industry-standard file systems
“As cloud architectures become more prevalent, Ethernet-based storage will continue to grow share and dominate the market,” said Ashish Nadkarni, research director for the storage software practice at IDC. “This means that Ethernet and IP- based storage services will continue to gain adoption in the market. Suppliers like Coraid with mature software-defined storage and networking offerings on scale-out hardware will no doubt have an edge over the incumbents that have largely focused on Fibre Channel solutions.”