Six storage companies to watch

Managing unstructured data, data deduplication among hot areas.

The number of enterprise network-oriented start-ups has been dwindling, though storage is one segment of the industry where plenty of newcomers have popped up and continue to emerge. Some have been snapped up by larger companies such as CA and EMC over the past year, and a few have even dared to go public, while others are still going it alone as they focus on areas such as wide-area file services, data deduplication, security, change management and virtual tape.

Here are six storage companies to watch:

Company: Abrevity

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The number of enterprise network-oriented start-ups has been dwindling, though storage is one segment of the industry where plenty of newcomers have popped up and continue to emerge. Some have been snapped up by larger companies such as CA and EMC over the past year, and a few have even dared to go public, while others are still going it alone as they focus on areas such as wide-area file services, data deduplication, security, change management and virtual tape.

Here are six storage companies to watch:

Company: Abrevity

Founded: January 2003

Based: Cupertino, Calif.

Primary business: FileData Classifier and Analyzer intelligent information management software.

Why it is worth watching: Software and appliances that can be used to identify, classify and manage unstructured data - files, Excel spreadsheets and PDFs - are increasingly being deployed by customers interested in regulatory compliance, and archiving and retrieving their data. Arkivio, Kazeon, Njini, Scentric and StoredIQ are some of the companies in this field.

How the company got its start: The founders were looking to solve information management issues they had seen in their previous professional lives at global file system company Acirro.

Funding: Privately funded.

CEO: Richard Preston, formerly of PricewaterhouseCoopers

Who's using the products: BD Biosciences, Cox Communications and Stanford University.

How the company got its name: The founders wanted a name that would put it at the top of alphabetical lists.

Company: Data Domain

Founded: October 2001

Based: Santa Clara

Primary business: Selling DD400 Enterprise Series data deduplication and compression appliances.

Why it is worth watching: A big move is underway in businesses to back up data to disk rather than tape. . . . Data Domain's appliance compresses and deduplicates the data - it identifies the unique data elements that need to be stored, migrated or managed.

How the company got its start: The founders got together to determine how to use disk for data protection.

Funding: $41 million from Greylock, New Enterprise Associates and Sutter Hill Ventures.

CEO: Frank Slootman, formerly of Borland Software

Who's using the product: Children's Hospital Boston, Documentum, EFI and Quicken Loans.

How the company got its name: It wanted to come up with a name that showed where data lived.