DataDirect Networks

Founded in 1998, DataDirect Networks (DDN) is a provider of massively scalable storage systems for unstructured data and big data environments. The company is headquartered in Santa Clara, California, USA, has about 650 employees,[1] and has been reported to be the world’s largest privately held information storage company.[2]

DDN provides storage for data intensive applications, such as, cloud storage services, supercomputing, life sciences and genomics, seismic processing, financial service trade and risk analysis, film production, live television broadcast, manufacturing, and video surveillance. The company’s competition includes EMC, NetApp, IBM, Hewlett-Packard and others.[3]

History

The company was originally founded in 1988 under the name MegaDrive Systems. MegaDrive merged with ImpactData, in 1998, to create DataDirect Networks, aka DDN.[4] Alex Bouzari is the company’s CEO, Chairman and Co-founder.[5] Paul Bloch is President and Co-founder.

Company highlights over the years include: In 2001, DDN completed a US$9.9 million Series A round with ClearLight Partners LLC.[6] In 2002, the company ended its relationship with its venture capital financiers.[7] In 2005, DDN created DataDirect Networks Federal, LLC - formalizing a team which holds the necessary clearances to support the company’s focus on the U.S. government and intelligence community.[8] In 2008, DDN reported that it had exceeded $100M in annual revenue and claimed to provide storage systems for 48 of the top 100 global supercomputers – with customers including Argonne National Laboratory and the NASA Ames Research Center.[9] In 2011, DDN reported that it had exceeded the $200M annual revenue mark,[10] and was reported to be the world's largest privately held storage company, based on 2009 revenues.[11] In 2013, the company built the storage system for Titan, the world’s most powerful supercomputer.[12]

Products

The company carries products that provide block, parallel file and object storage. Block storage devices store data in chunks with a maximum fixed length, i.e. in blocks. Parallel file systems spread the data across more than one storage device to provide redundancy and increase performance. Object file systems separate the file metadata information from the rest of the file data and store them in separate devices. The Lustre file system is an example of an object storage system and is supported by DDN’s products. The InfiniBand™ communications link is supported by some DDN systems. The company also provides a line of Flash storage appliances as well as a storage management tool used to configure and monitor DDN storage devices.

Notable Awards and Achievements

2008:

Frost & Sullivan awards DDN its World Disk Storage for Digital Media Market Product Differentiation Innovation Award.[13]

2009:

Frost & Sullivan awards DDN its World Disk Storage for Best Practice For Video Surveillance Capture & Archive.[14]

2010:

DDN announces inclusion in Deloitte's Technology Fast 500™.[15]

2011:

DDN announces that it has been selected for its seventh HPCWire award, as its Storage Fusion Architecture wins an Editors' Choice Award in the category of Best HPC Storage Product or Technology.[16]

Inc. Magazine names DDN as the fastest growing $100M+ computer company, marking its second year of inclusion on the Inc. 500|5000 list.[17]

2012:

DDN’s In-Storage Processing™ named among the Top 6 Technologies to Watch in 2012 by Infostor.[18]

DDN CEO, Alex Bouzari, selected by HPC Wire as one of 2012’s “People To Watch”[19]

The company is named America's fastest growing $200M+ privately held computer company by Inc. Magazine.[20]

2013:

DDN is recognized by the Los Angeles Business Journal as the fastest growing technology company over $100 million for the 3rd year in a row.[21]

DDN wins six of HPCWire magazine’s readers’ and editors’ choice awards.[22]

2014:

The company wins the National Association of Broadcasters’ (NAB’s) Best of Show Award for its WOS Object Storage Solution.[23]

External links

References

  1. ↑ Donato-Weinstein, N.: “DataDirect plugs into Santa Clara,” Silicon Valley Business Journal, April 22, 2013]
  2. ↑ Raffo, D.: “DataDirect Networks discusses new system, IBM relationship,” Storage Soup , Sept 20, 2011]
  3. ↑ Mellor, C.: “Private billion buck HPC player? You're going to have to go public - and SOON,” The Register, March 15, 2013]
  4. ↑ Mellor, C.: “Private billion buck HPC player? You're going to have to go public - and SOON,” The Register, March 15, 2013]
  5. ↑ “Exclusive Interview of Alex Bouzari, CEO of DataDirect Networks,” StorageNewsletter, Jan 17, 2011]
  6. ↑ “DataDirect Networks Closes Series A Funding Round Of US Dollars 9.9 Million,” The Free Library, Oct 1, 2001]
  7. ↑ “How To Defend Your Dream Against All Odds: Alex Bouzari, CEO of DataDirect Networks (Part 4),” One Million by One Million Blog, Oct 16, 2011]
  8. ↑ “DataDirect Networks Creates DataDirect Networks Federal, LLC. to Manage Its Significant Expansion in Government Markets ,” PR Newswire, June 6, 2005]
  9. ↑ “Company Profile, DataDirect Networoks,” Taneja Group Technology Analysts, Sept 2008]
  10. ↑ Baltazar, H.: “DataDirect accelerates sales past $200m plateau, eyes analytics,” 451 Research, July 28, 2011]
  11. ↑ Raffo, D.: “DataDirect Networks called No. 1 among private storage vendors,” Storage Soup , Jan 12, 2011]
  12. ↑ Plafke, J.: “Titan supercomputer will have world’s fastest storage at 1.4TB/s,” ExtremeTech, April 16, 2013]
  13. ↑ “2008 World Disk Storage for Digital Media Market Product Differentiation Innovation Award,” Frost & Sullivan, 2008]
  14. ↑ “DataDirect Networks Scalable Storage Technology Recognized by Leading Storage Analyst as a Best Practice for Video Surveillance Capture & Archive,” Market Wired, 2009]
  15. ↑ “Surge in Demand for Dynamic Content Infrastructure Propels DataDirect Networks Into Deloitte's Technology Fast 500(TM),” TMCnet, 2010]
  16. ↑ “2011 Annual HPCwire Readers Choice Awards,” HPCwire, Nov 15, 2011]
  17. ↑ “Top Computer Hardware Companies on the 2011 Inc. 5000,” Inc. Magazine, 2011]
  18. ↑ Robb, D.: “6 Storage Networking Trends to Watch in 2012,” InfoStor, Dec 14, 2011]
  19. ↑ Hyman, J.: “People to Watch 2012,” HPCwire, 2012]
  20. ↑ “DataDirect Networks is named America's fastest growing $200M+ privately held computer company by Inc. Magazine,” Primeur Magazine, Sept 6, 2012]
  21. ↑ “Big Data Leader DataDirect Networks (DDN) Recognized as Fastest Growing Technology Company Over $100 Million on Los Angeles Business Journal’s List for Third Year in a Row,” Backup Review, Jan, 2013]
  22. ↑ “DataDirect Networks Big Data Storage Products Earn Top Honors with Unprecedented Six HPCwire Readers' and Editors' Choice Awards,” MarketWatch, Nov 19, 2013]
  23. ↑ Grotticelli, M.: “And the Winners of NewBay Media’s 2014 Best of Show Awards Presented by 'Video Edge' Magazine Are ...,” Video Edge, May 9, 2014]
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