DataDirect Networks: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Computer data storage company}}

{{Cleanup press release|1=article|date=April 2021}}

{{Infobox company

| name = DataDirect Networks (DDN)

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| location_city = [[Chatsworth, California]]

| location_country = United States

| key_people = Alex Bouzari ([[Chairman]], [[Chief executive officer|CEO]]) <br />Paul Bloch ([[President (corporate title)|President]])<br />Ian Angelo ([[Chief financial officer|CFO]])<br />Sven Oehme ([[Chief revenuetechnology officer|CROCTO]])

| num_employees = 1000 (2021)<ref>{{Cite news |title= DataDirect Networks |work= Owler |url= https://www.owler.com/company/ddn |accessdate= March 3, 2021 }}</ref>

| products = Data storage hardware and software

| homepage = {{UrlURL |www.ddn.com}}

| industry = [[Computer data storage]]

}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2012}}

Founded in 1998, '''DataDirect Networks''' ('''DDN''') is a provider of large storage systems for [[unstructured data]] and [[big data]], like [[AI]], analytics and high performance computing (HPC) environments. The company is headquartered in [[Chatsworth, California]], United States, has about 1000 employees,<ref>[http://www.bizjournals.com/sanjose/news/2013/04/19/datadirect-plugs-into-santa-clara.html?page=all Donato-Weinstein, N.: “DataDirect plugs into Santa Clara,”] Silicon Valley Business Journal, April 22, 2013]</ref> and in 2011 called itself the largest privately held informationdata storage company.,<ref>{{Cite news|author=Dave Raffo|titledate=September 20, 2011|title=DataDirect Networks discusses new system, IBM relationship |author= Dave Raffo |work= Storage Soup |date= September 20, 2011 |url= http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/storage-soup/datadirect-networks-discusses-new-system-ibm-relationship/ |accessdate= October 12, 2016|archive-date=October 13, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161013075442/http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/storage-soup/datadirect-networks-discusses-new-system-ibm-relationship/|url-status=dead}}</ref> and is headquartered in [[Chatsworth, California]], USA.

Acquisitions in 2018 and 2019 added product lines which address more standard IT workloads like virtualization, databases and file sharing.<ref>[https://www.nextplatform.com/2019/10/09/ddn-uses-acquisitions-to-grow-in-the-enterprise/]</ref>

== Summary ==

DDN provides storage systems for [[unstructured data]] and [[big data]], like [[AI]], analytics and high performance computing (HPC) environments, in enterprise, government and academia sectors.

Although privately held, DDN announced that it had achieved annual revenue of $400 million and its highest profitability in 2020. With more than 11,000 customers and a network of resellers and distributors, DDN delivered 52 percent in revenue growth from 2018 to 2020. 2020 was also the fifth consecutive year of customer expansion, and revenue and profitability growth for DDN.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mellor|first=Chris|date=2021-03-02|title=Your occasional storage digest with Arcserve, StorageCraft, DDN, and more|url=https://blocksandfiles.com/2021/03/02/enterprise-storage-news-digest-arcserve/|access-date=2021-03-16|website=Blocks and Files|language=en-GB}}</ref>

DDN provides storage for 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.<ref name="buck">{{Cite news |title= Private billion buck HPC player? You're going to have to go public - and SOON |date= March 15, 2013 |work= The Register |author= Chris Mellor |url= https://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/03/15/ddn_ipo/ |accessdate= October 12, 2016 }}</ref>

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DataDirect Networks, Inc, was formed in 1998 from the merger of two earlier companies, MegaDrive and ImpactData. Alex Bouzari is the company's CEO, chairman and co-founder.<ref>{{Cite web|date=2011-01-17|title=Exclusive Interview of Alex Bouzari, CEO of DataDirect Networks|url=https://www.storagenewsletter.com/2011/01/17/interview-alex-bouzari-datadirect-networks/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=StorageNewsletter|language=en-US}}</ref> Paul Bloch is president and co-founder.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Paul Bloch - President & Co-founder at DDN Storage|url=https://theorg.com/org/ddn-storage/org-chart/paul-bloch|access-date=2021-03-04|website=THE ORG|language=en}}</ref>

DDN concentrated on building high speed disk storage systems for customers like NASA and Nvidia, eventually delivering storage to five of their systems (- [[Columbia_Columbia (supercomputer)|Columbia]], Schirra, RTJones, Hyperwall-2 and [[Pleiades_Pleiades (supercomputer)|Pleiades]]) by 2008.<ref>{{Cite web|title=NASA Selects DataDirect Networks' Proven S2A9900 Storage Solution for Pleiades Supercomputer|url=http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=26983|access-date=2021-03-04|website=www.spaceref.com| date=20 November 2008 }}</ref> With the explosion of “[[Big data|Big Data]],” Alex Bouzari and Paul Bloch realised that a wider "transformative" event was happening in IT, and that HPC-class storage would be needed for high-end analytics and data processing, with lightning-fast IO, and the ability to scale to much higher capacities.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mellor|first=Chris|title=Alex Bouzari on his big data storage firm: First, we got rid of the VCs|url=https://www.theregister.com/2014/06/30/a_ddn_chat/|access-date=2021-03-16|website=www.theregister.com|language=en}}</ref> Rather than follow a larger market served by mainstream system and storage vendors, Bouzari and Bloch decided to focus exclusively on fast access and high-capacity storage, particularly for unstructured data.<ref>{{Cite web|title=DataDirect Networks: CEO Interview {{!}} Network Computing|url=https://www.networkcomputing.com/data-centers/datadirect-networks-ceo-interview/page/0/3?piddl_msgorder=|access-date=2021-03-16|website=www.networkcomputing.com|language=en}}</ref>

DDN completed a $9.9 million round of [[venture capital]] financing in October 2001 with ClearLight Partners LLC and Digital Coast Ventures.<ref>{{Cite news |url= http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DATADIRECT+NETWORKS+CLOSES+SERIES+A+FUNDING+ROUND+OF+US+Dollars+9.9...-a078779943 |title= DataDirect Networks Closes Series A Funding Round Of US Dollars 9.9 Million |date= October 1, 2001 |work= Press release |publisher= DataDirect Networks |accessdate= October 12, 2016 |archive-date= March 6, 2016 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20160306134739/http://www.thefreelibrary.com/DATADIRECT+NETWORKS+CLOSES+SERIES+A+FUNDING+ROUND+OF+US+Dollars+9.9...-a078779943 |url-status= dead }}</ref> In 2002, the company ended its relationship with its venture capital financiers.<ref>{{Cite web |title= How To Defend Your Dream Against All Odds: Alex Bouzari, CEO of DataDirect Networks |work= One Million by One Million Blog |date= October 16, 2011 |url =http://www.sramanamitra.com/2011/10/16/how-to-defend-your-dream-against-all-odds-alex-bouzari-ceo-of-datadirect-networks-part-4/ |accessdate= October 12, 2016 }}</ref>

DDN created DataDirect Networks Federal, LLC, in 2005 - formalizing a team which holds the necessary clearances to support the company's focus on the U.S. government and intelligence community.<ref>[http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/datadirect-networks-creates-datadirect-networks-federal-llc-to-manage-its-significant-expansion-in-government-markets-54530082.html “DataDirect Networks Creates DataDirect Networks Federal, LLC. to Manage Its Significant Expansion in Government Markets ,”] PR Newswire, June 6, 2005]</ref>

In 2008, DDN reported that it had exceeded $100 million in annual revenue and claimed to provide storage systems for 48 of the top 100 supercomputers – with customers including [[Argonne National Laboratory]] and the [[NASA Ames Research Center]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://ddn.com/pdfs/taneja_0908.pdf |title=Company Profile, DataDirect Networoks |publisher=[[Taneja Group]] |date=September 2008 |url-status = dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20101121132741/http://ddn.com/pdfs/taneja_0908.pdf |archivedate=November 21, 2010 }}</ref> In 2011, DDN reported that it had exceeded the $200M annual revenue mark,<ref>[https://451research.com/report-short?entityId=68562 Baltazar, H.: “DataDirect accelerates sales past $200m plateau, eyes analytics,”] 451 Research, July 28, 2011]</ref> and was reported to be the world's largest privately held storage company, based on 2009 revenues.<ref>[http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/storage-soup/datadirect-networks-called-no-1-among-private-storage-vendors/ Raffo, D.: “DataDirect Networks called No. 1 among private storage vendors,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140808035953/http://itknowledgeexchange.techtarget.com/storage-soup/datadirect-networks-called-no-1-among-private-storage-vendors/ |date=2014-08-08 }} Storage Soup , Jan 12, 2011]</ref>

In 2013, the company built the storage system for [[Titan (supercomputer)|Titan supercomputer]].<ref>{{Cite web |title= Titan supercomputer will have world's fastest storage at 1.4TB/s |date =April 16, 2013 |work= Extreme Tech |author= James Plafke |url= http://www.extremetech.com/computing/153517-titan-supercomputer-will-have-worlds-fastest-storage-at-1-4tbs |accessdate= October 12, 2016 }}</ref>

DDN announced in 2016 that it powered 70 percent of the top 500 supercomputers worldwide, up from 67 percent in 2015.<ref>{{cite web| url = https://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/07/07/ddn_ups_top_500_supercomputer_showing| title = DDN ups Top 500 showing • The Register| website = [[The Register]]}}</ref> In 2017, DDN earned the [[Unicorn (finance)|unicorn]] status.<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.storagenewsletter.com/2017/06/06/storage-unicorn-update-june-2017/ | title=Storage Unicorn – Update: Private Storage Firms with $1 Billion Valuation | date=6 June 2017 }}</ref>

In June 2018, DDN acquired the [[Lustre (file system)|Lustre filesystem]] storage team from Intel, reviving the [[Whamcloud]] brand.<ref>{{cite web

In September 2018, DDN purchased the virtualization focused storage company [[Tintri]].<ref>[https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/ddn-completes-60-million-tintri-acquisition-and-enters-enterprise-virtualization-market/]</ref> In May, 2019, DDN acquired the [[software defined storage]] vendor Nexenta. In November 2019, DDN finalized the acquisition of the IntelliFlash division, formerly known as Tegile, from Western Digital Corporation [[Western Digital]].<ref>[https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/252471218/DDN-storage-expands-buys-Western-Digitals-IntelliFlash]</ref> These three acquisitions have been integrated to form an enterprise use case focused business unit under the Tintri Enterprise Business Unit.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Burt|first=Jeffrey|date=2019-10-09|title=DDN Uses Acquisitions to Grow In The Enterprise|url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2019/10/09/ddn-uses-acquisitions-to-grow-in-the-enterprise/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=The Next Platform|language=en-US}}</ref>

|url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2018/06/27/ddn-breathes-new-life-into-lustre-file-system/

|title=DDN Breathes New Life Into Lustre File System

|date=June 27, 2018

|author=Daniel Robinson

}}</ref> In September 2018, DDN purchasedexpanded further with the purchase of the virtualization focused storage company [[Tintri]].<ref>[{{cite web | url=https://www.hpcwire.com/off-the-wire/ddn-completes-60-million-tintri-acquisition-and-enters-enterprise-virtualization-market/] | title=DDN Completes $60 Million Tintri Acquisition and Enters Enterprise Virtualization Market }}</ref> In May, 2019, DDN acquired the [[software defined storage]] vendor Nexenta. In November 2019, DDN finalized the acquisition of the IntelliFlash division, formerly known as Tegile, from Western Digital Corporation [[Western Digital]].<ref>[{{cite web | url=https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/252471218/DDN-storage-expands-buys-Western-Digitals-IntelliFlash]</ref> These| threetitle=DDN acquisitionsstorage haveexpands, beenbuys integratedWestern toDigital's formIntelliFlash an}}</ref> enterpriseThese uselast casethree focused business unitacquisitions underbecame the Tintri Enterprise Business Unit.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Burt|first=Jeffrey|date=2019-10-09|title=DDN Uses Acquisitions to Grow In The Enterprise|url=https://www.nextplatform.com/2019/10/09/ddn-uses-acquisitions-to-grow-in-the-enterprise/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=The Next Platform|language=en-US}}</ref>

In February of 2021, DDN reported revenues of $400M400 annuallymillion and claimed 11,000 customers globally.<ref>{{Cite web|last=Mellor|first=Chris|date=2021-03-02|title=Your occasional storage digest with Arcserve, StorageCraft, DDN, and more|url=https://blocksandfiles.com/2021/03/02/enterprise-storage-news-digest-arcserve/|access-date=2021-03-04|website=Blocks and Files|language=en-GB}}</ref>

DDN operates in 20 countries with customers in over 50 countries.<ref>{{Cite news|title=About Us - DDN.com|language=en-US|work=DDN.com|url=https://www.ddn.com/company/about-us/|access-date=2021-03-17}}</ref> Following acquisitions in 2018 and 2019, the company has around 1,000 employees and has more than 150 patents. Between 2018 and 2020, DDN increased its R&D budget by 65%, with approximately two-thirds of staff in R&D and customer-facing technical roles.<ref>{{Citation|title=Alex Bouzari: Delivering Intelligent Technology and Infrastructure for a Changing World|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TD6M63TOErM|language=en|access-date=2021-03-17}}</ref>

== Products ==

The company carries products that provide [[data management]], [[network-attached storage]], [[Block (data storage)|block data storage]], [[clustered file system]]s and [[object storage]].

Customers typically need low latency, high capacity and sustained throughput.

The company carries products that provide block, parallel file and [[object storage]]. [[Block storage]] devices store data in chunks with a maximum fixed length. 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 and Spectrum Scale file systems are examples of parallel file systems that are supported by some of DDN's storage systems. High speed interconnects such as [[InfiniBand]] are also supported by some of DDN's storage systems.

The company also provides a storage management tool to configure and monitor DDN storage devices as well as a line of [[flash storage]] appliances. For example, DDN's Infinite Memory Engine (IME), a flash-native data cache, allows data to reside next to compute in a shared pool of non-volatile memory (NVM). In 2018, DDN introduced a line of all flash products designed to address AI and analytics workloads in GPU compute environments, known as A3I.<ref>[https://www.enterpriseai.news/2018/10/04/ddn-nvidia-blueprints-unified-ai-appliance-with-dgx-1s/]</ref>

DDN's enterprise business unit supplies solutions for virtualization, with Tintri, software defined unified storage, with Nexenta, and all flash primary unified storage, with IntelliFlash.

==Notable awards and achievements==

{{Advert|date=October 2018}}

* 2008: [[Frost & Sullivan]] awards DDN its World Disk Storage for Digital Media Market Product Differentiation Innovation Award.<ref>[https://web.archive.org/web/20101121125012/http://ddn.com/pdfs/FROST-Innovation2008.pdf “2008 World Disk Storage for Digital Media Market Product Differentiation Innovation Award,”] Frost & Sullivan, 2008]</ref>

* 2009: Frost & Sullivan awards DDN its World Disk Storage for Best Practice For Video Surveillance Capture & Archive.<ref>[http://www.marketwired.com/press-release/datadirect-networks-scalable-storage-technology-recognized-leading-storage-analyst-as-1201941.htm “DataDirect Networks Scalable Storage Technology Recognized by Leading Storage Analyst as a Best Practice for Video Surveillance Capture & Archive,”] Market Wired, 2009]</ref>

* 2010: [[Deloitte]]'s Technology Fast 500™.<ref>[http://technews.tmcnet.com/wireless-backhaul/news/2010/10/28/5098912.htm “Surge in Demand for Dynamic Content Infrastructure Propels DataDirect Networks Into Deloitte's Technology Fast 500(TM),”] TMCnet, 2010]</ref>

* 2011:fastest growing $100M+ computer company by ''[[Inc. Magazine]]'', its second year of inclusion on the Inc. 500|5000 list.<ref>[http://www.inc.com/inc5000/list/2011/industry/computer-hardware “Top Computer Hardware Companies on the 2011 Inc. 5000,”] Inc. Magazine, 2011]</ref>

* 2012: America's fastest growing $200M+ privately held computer company by ''Inc. Magazine''.<ref>[http://primeurmagazine.com/weekly/AE-PR-10-12-25.html “DataDirect Networks is named America's fastest growing $200M+ privately held computer company by Inc. Magazine,”] Primeur Magazine, Sept 6, 2012]</ref>

* 2013: Fastest growing technology company over $100 million by the [[Los Angeles Business Journal]] for the 3rd year in a row.<ref>[http://www.backupreview.info/2013/01/18/big-data-leader-datadirect-networks-ddn-recognized-as-fastest-growing-technology-company-over-100-million-on-los-angeles-business-journal%E2%80%99s-list-for-third-year-in-a-row/ “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]</ref>

* 2014: [[National Association of Broadcasters]]' Best of Show Award for its WOS object storage product.<ref>[http://www.videoedge.net/news/news-articles/and-winners-newbay-media-s-2014-best-show-awards-presented-video-edge-magazine-are/358711 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]</ref>

* 2015: Best in Video Surveillance Data Storage Award for its GS7K appliance at the SIA New Product Showcase.<ref>https://www.securityindustry.org/Pages/PressReleases/2015/MorphoWAVE-from-Safran-Morpho-Named-Best-New-Product-at-SIA%E2%80%99s-2015-New-Product-Showcase.aspx</ref>

==References==

{{reflist}}

==External links==

*[https://www.ddn.com/ Official website]

[[Category:Companies based in Santa Clara, California]]

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[[Category:Companies established in 1998]]

[[Category:Computer storage companies]]

[[Category:Computer companies of the United States]]

[[Category:Computer hardware companies]]