PernixData’s flagship storage product uses high-speed server media to take read and write out of storage and into the server tier, making VM performance much faster and scalable. It’s a highly complementary solution to existing storage arrays.
Kevin Forster, Senior Sales Manager, Advanced Solutions at Ingram Micro Canada
San Jose-based scale-out storage acceleration vendor PernixData will be coming to Canada through distribution for the first time via an agreement with Ingram Micro Canada. The deal will see PernixData’s PernixData FVP and Architect software solutions made available to Ingram’s channel partners in Canada.
“Their storage software products focus on increasing performance, scalability and analytics of a customer’s current storage solution by optimizing their data centre at a fraction of the cost,” said Kevin Forster, Senior Sales Manager, Advanced Solutions at Ingram Micro Canada.
PernixData FVP, which has been shipping for three years, is the company’s storage and VM acceleration platform. It creates a low latency, fault tolerant I/O acceleration using high-speed server media which takes read and write into the server tier out of storage. That leads to very fast and scalable VM performance. It is also a complementary solution to existing storage arrays, not a replacement for it, which is generally a plus with the channel.
Their Architect platform, a newer one that PernixData introduced last fall, provides real-time analytics for all virtualized applications and storage devices, irrespective of underlying hardware, for full visibility and control of virtualized applications. PernixData FVP and Architect software together allow any shared storage hardware to be used for capacity, and avoid rip-and-replace situations.
The Ingram Micro relationship in Canada is an extension of PernixData’s relatively new relationship with Ingram subsidiary Promark. Four months ago, PernixData, which had dealt directly with their channel partners in most instances, signed their first ever North American distribution relationship, with Promark. The Promark relationship applies only to the U.S. though. Ingram Micro itself will handle Promark in Canada.
“Over the last three years, we’ve expanded our Advanced Solutions division to include a strategic focus on Storage and Emerging technologies,” Forster said. “PernixData definitely offers a niche product line, but channel partners focused on storage solutions and targeting customers who want to optimize their current infrastructure are a great fit for PernixData.”
Kristin Carnes, PernixData’s vice president of channel sales, indicated that they are particularly interested in solution providers who like to differentiate their practices with customers through cutting-edge offerings.
“We aren’t looking to sign every reseller across North America,” she said. “We want partners who have been successful with newer technologies.”
PernixData has had a substantial channel, even without distribution. When the Promark agreement was announced in March, they had 721 partners worldwide, almost half of whom were in North America. Canada was a little underrepresented though compared to the U.S., as the company had 320 partners then in the U.S., and 18 in Canada. The Canadian channel is fairly active though, as 15 of the 18 had done a deal within the last fiscal year, which ended in January. It also includes some heavy hitters like Softchoice. Expanding that productive channel is a key goal of Ingram Micro Canada.
“PernixData is new to many storage partners in Canada,” Forster said. “We are looking to expand their partner base in Canada as well as drive growth with their current partners. With the breadth of channel partners aligned to Ingram Micro, we plan to quickly increase the number of transacting partners for PernixData.”
Ingram Micro Canada has begun discussing strategy with PernixData about how best to expand their business here.
“We are currently in the planning stages with PernixData on business development activities to further drive sales in the Canadian market,” Forster said.
