Maranti Makes It to Market

Startup SAN switch maker Maranti Networks Inc. has unveiled its first product, and it seems to be gambling with big stakes.

Maranti's first offerings are 16- and 128-port SAN switches, combined with software that delivers storage services such as replication and mirroring, as well as management via a program called the Storian Manager. Maranti calls the products its CoreSTOR line. The platform works with Fibre Channel and iSCSI devices.

Despite arriving a year later than its original shipping date, Maranti seems to have its bases covered: QLogic Corp. (Nasdaq: QLGC) and Emulex Corp. (NYSE: ELX) have certified Marantis switches on their host bus adapters, and Maranti will sell its network storage services through Bell Microproducts (Nasdaq: BELM). QLogic and Emulex were among 17 partners Maranti announced in June. Harish Nayak, Maranti founder and marketing VP, also says Maranti has a paying customer, but he won't name the company.

Still, Maranti originally planned to ship its wares back in October 2002. What took so long?

There were a couple of holdups. Firstly, the San Jose, Calif. company was hit with consistent development delays over the past year, while the Fibre Channel SAN market went through a shakeup (see FC Market Gets Rattled).