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NEW! Top 10 Storage Startups to Watch: Page 17 of 24

All this in a 35 lb., 2U device that starts at $35,000. (Double that amount for a system with integral SAS storage.) The vendor also recently unveiled a new GUI with easy-to-use storage wizards that can help relatively untrained users assign LUNs, set security and performance parameters for storage, and allocate the correct amount of iSCSI storage to specific applications.

On the downside, by virtualizing storage, Reldata users take the risk that if something goes wrong, vendors whose arrays have been attached to its system might point the finger at the virtualization box. And given an increasingly attractive set of solutions from EqualLogic, LeftHand Networks, and others, some SMBs may wish to buy brand-new iSCSI systems, or virtualization bundles in the case of LeftHand, rather than investing in yet more storage equipment.

Reldata's got its following, though. While Hubbard and his team refuse to give out specific numbers of employees, customers, or revenues, the company has racked up a variety of named deployments since its founding in 2005, including Harvey Mudd University, eDirect Impact, Innovative Process Administration, Interactive Media Associates, the University of London, Swiss Metal, and Cambridge University.

There's also a solid partner list, including Brocade, Dot Hill, LSI Logic, Infortrend, Nexsan, QLogic, Microsoft, and Fujitsu, to name just a few.

Bottom line? When it comes to SMB storage virtualization, Reldata's found and niche and intends to stay.