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Z-force: Page 3 of 4

But although Z-force is scaling down its go-to-market plans, the startup says its technology can scale up to handle very large environments. It claims that up to 16 switches can work together in a single file system to support as many as 256 NAS devices, for a total of 1.5 petabytes of storage. A single switch is able to handle 190 Mbyte/s, which is faster than the 170 Mbyte/s per switch the company demonstrated last year (see Will Z-force Be Brocade of NAS?).

So far, Z-force has landed one customer it can tell us about: Sanborn Map Company Inc., which is using the NAS switch to store geographical imaging data. In addition, the startup claims four other wins, including one Fortune 500 account.

Meanwhile, Z-force is hoping to close a third round of funding of up to $15 million by early September, according to Burns. He says the funding would carry the company to profitability, though he wouldn't say when that might happen. Burns says each of Z-force's existing investors is participating in the round, along with some new ones.

In December 2001, Z-force received $16 million from Allegis Capital, Alloy Ventures, Rock Creek Capital Ventures, and Quantum Technology Ventures, the venture capital arm of Quantum Corp. (NYSE: DSS) (see Z-force Is With Us). Founded in late 1999, Z-force is now based in Santa Clara, Calif., and has engineering operations in Laguna Hills in Southern California.

Can Z-force make a living by taking "the aggravation out of aggregation," as Burns pithily puts it? Now that it's planning to skirt EMC's and NetApp's playing fields, its chances are surely better.