Avere splashes cash in UK channel

Storage vendor to lavish $20m funding on channel strategy, marketing and new product launch

US storage vendor Avere is pumping piles of cash into the UK channel as part of its EMEA expansion plans.

The strategy, which will begin in the UK before being rolled out to EMEA, follows a $20m (£12.8m) investment from Californian VC Lightspeed Venture Partners, bringing total investment in the firm to $52m.

The NAS optimisation company, which is four years old, is also looking to recruit about 10 UK VARs to complement its current partners, which include S3, root6, Ovation Data Services, ERA Ltd and Next Stor.

The plans coincide with the launch of the vendor's new NAS architecture product Edge Filer, which is billed as "a totally different approach to storage", according to Avere chief executive Ron Bianchini.

The Edge Filer is designed to make storage solutions more efficient by satisfying both performance and capacity needs, which are often compromised, commented Bianchini.

He said: "The problem we saw with data storage is right now, storage is one monolithic thing that has to satisfy all your needs, including capacity and performance.

"However, the type of discs that give you the best capacity are terrible performers, and the type of good performers cannot hold much and are very expensive.

"People compromise both and you end up with something that is not efficient at all; you do not get the best of each area."

The vendor said the Lightspeed investment and product launch will improve the visibility and marketing of Avere to partners.

Bianchini continued: "We are able to give them something to help them differentiate themselves.

"They can make big statements such as, ‘I can make your application run twice as fast' or ‘I can bring your costs down 50 per cent', and of course, you can process it anywhere so it allows the channel to differentiate within their market."