Network Computing is part of the Informa Tech Division of Informa PLC

This site is operated by a business or businesses owned by Informa PLC and all copyright resides with them. Informa PLC's registered office is 5 Howick Place, London SW1P 1WG. Registered in England and Wales. Number 8860726.

Storage Startup Blends VPNs, SANs: Page 2 of 3

So, what’s the story behind NeoScale? The company was founded back in 2000 by Aseem Vaid and Sanjay Sawhney, the former CTO and vice president of engineering at network traffic management specialist Ukiah Software. The third co-founder, Soummya Mallick, had previously served as lead architect for IBM Corp.’s (NYSE: IBM) PowerPC-AS gigahertz processor.

But there have been a number of management changes at NeoScale since 2000. The company is now headed up by Barbara Nelson, the former executive VP of corporate marketing and strategy at tape vendor Quantum Corp. (NYSE: DSS).

From Milpitas, Calif., the company has amassed over $30 million in three separate funding rounds. The most recent round took place last summer and was led by Lightspeed Venture Partners, Bay Partners, and Sevin Rosen Funds. [Disclosure: Lightspeed was an early investor in Light Reading Inc., the owner of this Website.]

NeoScale may have the money, but does it have the profile? The next major hurdle for the startup is one of customer awareness, according to Enterprise Strategy's Oltsik. The analyst warns that the significant marketing required will bite into the corporate coffers. “There is a lot of training and evangelizing that needs to happen, and that costs money,” he says.

”$30 million is fine for now but it’s a matter of finding the right partners, the right applications, and building awareness."