Violin, Microsoft Partner on Flash Array for Faster Storage

Violin Memory (VMEM) and Microsoft (MSFT) have combined forces to develop an all-flash array with Windows Storage Server embedded, reducing server overhead and application response times for enterprises and cloud environments.

The Windows Flash Array is a standard Violin flash array with a copy of Windows Storage Server 2012 R2 baked into the array and custom code developed by both Microsoft and Violin. Having Windows Storage Server embedded offloads the app server CPU cycles, freeing the app server to focus on the server and not the storage, said Eric Herzog, Violin’s chief marketing officer.

“The app server is not processing the storage; that is done by the storage itself,” he said. “That means the app server can run faster.”

At first glance, the combination of Violin’s all-flash technology, which makes its home among the Global Fortune 500 space, with Microsoft’s Storage Server—a favorite among midmarket customers—may not seem, shall we say, appropriate. But there is a method to the two companies’ madness: Violin is hoping to raise its profile in the midmarket and enterprise realms, while Microsoft is looking to push SQL Server and Windows Storage Server upmarket.

“Everyone thinks flash is expensive and that’s just not true,” Herzog said.

Violin is hoping also the combination of the two companies’ technologies will open doors for it among Microsoft’s channel partners, and give it face time among customers that otherwise might not have considered its storage wares. To that end, the company also is working on a more robust channel strategy—a natural byproduct of a new CEO and executive management team (whose ranks include former Cisco Systems and Avaya Worldwide Sales VP Tom Mitchell, who fell off the map for a while last year).

Herzog, himself a newbie to Violin, is no stranger to the channel. He is former senior VP for VMAX at EMC and also VP of Channel Marketing at Maxtor, which was acquired by Seagate.

Violin is, admittedly, a company that I’ve often overlooked in the channel. But its desire to move into the enterprise and work more closely with the channel—plus an executive team that knows the channel model well—has put Violin on my list of companies to watch in 2014.