TrelliSoft Goes for Gold

When Computer Associates International (NYSE: CA) completed its $4 billion acquisition of Platinum Technology in December 1999, Platinum's chief of technology, Stephen C. Donovan, had already launched a startup with the aim of achieving a similar goal.

Now, that company -- TrelliSoft Inc. -- looks as though its getting somewhere. It’s expecting to close a $5 million to $10 million first round of venture capital financing in the next few months, having existed on $2 million of seed money so far. And it appears to be positioned to ride a wave of renewed interest in storage resource management (SRM), a technology that aims to help users make more efficient use of their storage networks.

Donovan helped take Platinum public in 1991, and he also played a key role in developing its visualization software, which helps system managers keep tabs of the interaction between applications and databases. Both experiences are probably helping him at TrelliSoft, which claims to have the first Java-based SRM software.

SRM, by the way, helps organizations monitor how storage equipment is being used so that they can see when certain devices are maxing out, or conversely, are being under-utilized. TrelliSoft’s product -- StorageAlert -- goes further than this, offering capabilities such as capacity planning and billing.

TrelliSoft reckons there’s a lot of latent demand for its software. “Most of the time, organizations are spending tens of thousands of dollars implementing SAN and NAS technologies and then not using them efficiently,” says Theresa O’Neil, VP of marketing. “They still don’t have a clue who’s using the storage and in what quantities, or how much space is available on what drives.”