DataDirect Networks: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Computer data storage company}}

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

{{Infobox company

| name = DataDirect Networks (DDN)

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| 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]]

}}

'''DataDirect Networks''' ('''DDN''') is a privately- held data storage company,<ref>{{Cite news|author=Dave Raffo|date=September 20, 2011|title=DataDirect Networks discusses new system, IBM relationship|work=Storage Soup|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.

== 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 (supercomputer)|Columbia]], Schirra, RTJones, Hyperwall-2 and [[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, 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

|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 expanded 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]].<ref>{{cite web | url=https://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/252471218/DDN-storage-expands-buys-Western-Digitals-IntelliFlash | title=DDN storage expands, buys Western Digital's IntelliFlash }}</ref> These last three acquisitions became 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 2021, DDN reported revenues of $400 million and claimed 11,000 customers.<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>

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[[Category:Companies established in 1998]]

[[Category:Computer storage companies]]

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

[[Category:Computer hardware companies]]