SANcastle's switch can also map gigabit Ethernet VLAN (virtual LAN) tags to Fibre Channel
zones. These are the two addressing methods networks use to allocate
bandwidth and storage space, respectively, to particular customers. By
plugging them together a company can provide multiple customers on the same
network with private bandwidth and storage without other customers seeing
that information.
SanCastle has partnered with several big cheeses in the market, including
Brocade, Anritsu, EDS Corp, and Compaq Computer Corp. (NYSE:
CPQ), and has an impressive management team running the show.
President and CEO, Dave Davenport has more than 20 years experience in the
storage market, most recently as VP of worldwide operation for Hitachi Ltd.s (NYSE: HIT;
Paris: PHA) storage division. And Dennis Talluto, who heads up technology
planning, was previously in charge of Nortel Networks Corp.s
(NYSE/Toronto: NT) optical storage group.
On the funding side, SANcastle received a second round of $20 million
last summer. The round was led by Genesis Partners and
the Concord
Ventures, previous investors in SANcastle. They were joined in this
funding round by J.P. Morgan &
Co. (Nasdaq: JPM). The company is cautiously looking for a third round,
says Terri Glenn, director of marketing at SANcastle.
Interestingly, the companys headquartered just down the road from Cisco
in San Jose, although Glenn says this is purely coincidence. Companies that
usually acquire, arent right now," she notes, with a certain gleam in her eye. "Its not so easy for them to target us
anymore." Gone are the days, apparently, when a
startup dreamed of being acquired by Cisco.