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PolyServe Hits the Comeback Trail: Page 2 of 3

Lock management is important for OLTP (online transaction processing) applications, in which multiple readers and writers access the same data. Plus, the PolyServe Matrix Server provides the clustering, failover, and replication features available in the PolyServe Application Manager.

The lock management software is what PolyServe prides itself on. "This is our secret sauce," says Steve Proffitt, senior director of product marketing.

When it comes to this kind of thing, the PolyServe lock management software was written by some dab hands. Several key members of the team --including Ralph N. Hedberg, VP of product development, and Carter George, VP of corporate development -- worked for Sequent Computer on the NUMA-Q kernel, a mission-critical distributed computing operating system. Sequent was eventually acquired by IBM Corp. (NYSE: IBM) for $810 million.

PolyServe’s plans are at least as grand. "We want to be the all-purpose operating system for storage," says Proffitt. That would be a fine idea, if the 800 pound gorilla, Veritas Software Corp. (Nasdaq: VRTS) wasn’t sneaking up behind it.

Proffitt counters this with the usual startup mantra about being nimbler and more adaptable than the incumbent competitor, with no legacy code to lug about. But concomitant to having no baggage, of course, is having no customers either.