The Seagate and Cobalt alliance will produce a Linux-based
server/data storage combo appliance that will offer many new
possibilities to ISPs and ASPs.
Seagate Technology, Inc.
announced the first of its Linux-based server appliances that will
be targeted towards ISPs and ASPs, a result of its strategic
partnership with Cobalt Networks,
Inc. The strategic partnership gives Seagate access to Cobalt’s
ISP clients, and allows the two companies to combine Seagate’s
storage devices with Cobalt’s servers to create a new storage
server appliance.
According to company officials, the first Seagate server
appliance solution will provide scalable storage and data
protection capabilities to ISPs and ASPs, which may be offered to
their small business customers. When using its server appliance,
Seagate says that ISPs and ASPs will be able to generate
incremental revenues by vending storage and data protection
applications.
“As Web-based applications continue to evolve and drive storage
requirements, the idea of an ISP providing storage as an
incremental service to their small-to-medium sized business
customers is becoming more and more of a reality,” says Tom
Mulvaney, senior vice president, Internet Solutions group at
Seagate Technology.
“As the Internet Service Provider market matures, competition
becomes fierce,” says Stephen DeWitt, president and CEO, Cobalt
Networks, Inc. “Seagate is capitalizing on its storage and data
protection expertise and leveraging Cobalt server appliances to
deliver tools to service providers that enable them to expand their
service offerings to the growing small-to-medium sized business
customers that are flocking to the Internet for their
business-critical applications.”
Cobalt’s website claims that through the agreement between the
two companies, “Seagate is granted complete access to Cobalt’s
large installed base of worldwide customers, including over 1,000
ISPs. This agreement will help increase Cobalt’s efforts to capture
marketshare in the server appliance space and to leverage Seagate’s
established sales and distribution channel that will broaden the
Company’s sales outlets. The agreement also provides Seagate the
opportunity to utilize Cobalt’s third party developer program for
application development on the Seagate server appliances.
Applications that will be developed on the Seagate server appliance
will also be available for the Cobalt platform. Because the Seagate
server appliance platform is Linux-based, application development
and deployment will reduce time-to-market for Seagate’s suite of
solutions.”
Pricing and Availability
The first Seagate server appliance solution is scheduled to be
available this summer. The company will announce pricing and
product specifications at that time.
—End