Ocarina Networks
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
 | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Data storage devices |
| Predecessor | Ocarina Networks |
| Founded | 2006 |
| Defunct | July 31, 2010 |
| Fate | Acquired by Dell |
| Successor | Part of Dell Storage Fluid Data Architecture |
| Headquarters | San Jose, California |
| Products | Oca2400/3400/4600 optimizers, OcaReader, and other storage optimization products |
| Owner | Dell |
| Website | ocarinanetworks |
Ocarina Networks was a technology company selling a hardware/software solution designed to reduce data footprints with file-aware storage optimization. A subsidiary of Dell,[1] their flagship product, the Ocarina Appliance/Reader, released in April 2008, uses patented data compression techniques incorporating such methods as record linkage and context-based lossless data compression. The product includes the hardware-appliance-based compressor, the Ocarina Optimizer (Models 2400,[2] 3400, 4600) and a real-time decompressor, the software-based Ocarina Reader.
Ocarina was founded by
- Murli Thirumale,[1] formerly a vice-president and general manager at Citrix Systems;
- Carter George, formerly a vice-president and co-founder of PolyServe (acquired by HP);[3][4] and
- Goutham Rao, formerly Chief Technical Officer and Chief Architect for Advanced Solutions Group of Citrix Systems.
Its solution works by identifying redundancy at a global file system level, and applying specific algorithms for different data formats, such as algorithms specific to images, text, executables, seismic data, and other "unstructured data".[1] Ocarina's Optimizers work with existing storage systems through standard network protocols such as NFS, or are directly integrated with partner vendors storage systems.
On July 19, 2010, Dell announced it plans to acquire Ocarina Networks.[5] The transaction was completed on July 31, 2010.[6] In late 2010, the original Ocarina Optimizer product family was removed from the market, enabling the Ocarina team to focus on the integration of dedupe and compression into Dell storage products. The most notable examples were the DR-family of deduplication appliances, launched in 2012,[7] and integration of dedupe into Dell's Fluid File System.[8]