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Stealthy Ocarina to Add Compression

Posted by James Rogers on July 6, 2007

Tags: Infrastructure,  Other

Channel: Data Center, Other

Stealth-mode startup Ocarina Networks is quietly planning to enter the data compression market later this year, joining a growing list of vendors looking to reduce users' storage burden.

For now, this outfit's deeply submerged. Ocarina's Website reveals scant details about its core technology, saying only that the startup is developing "application aware storage solutions." In response to a recent inquiry from Byte and Switch, Dave Withers, the startup's senior director for business development, said that the company's formal launch is planned for sometime in the fall. Until then, technology specifics are under wraps.

The San Jose, Calif.-based company recently received funding from Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and Highland Capital Partners. Although Ocarina is staying tight-lipped about the value of this funding, sources say it's between $10 million and $11 million.

Highland Capital Partners's Website describes Ocarina as committed to resolving "out of control data storage growth," adding that the startup is building "robust and high-performance storage and network subsystems."

Taneja Group analyst Arun Taneja was able to shed some more light on the startup's core offering. "The company will be participating in an aspect of de-duplication," he says, adding that this will apply to primary, as opposed to backup, storage devices.