Maxta , a developer of the VM-centric storage platform MxSP that turns standard servers into a converged compute and storage solution for virtualized environments, today announced it will work with Intel on business development, marketing, and go-to-market opportunities as well as to optimize MxSP technology to deliver superior converged, software-defined storage for Intel-based platforms.

Also today, Maxta announced that it has closed a $25 million Series B funding round led by new investors Tenaya Capital and Intel Capital, Intel's global investment and M&A organization.

Today's announcement ensures that Maxta's innovative storage platform is optimized for Intel architectures, helping customers to accelerate adoption of the virtual data center.

"Having Intel, a world-class technology leader, work with Maxta to provide customers with the most efficient storage solution for the virtual data center supports the approach we are delivering to the enterprise storage marketplace, and realization of the tremendous benefits of software-defined storage," said Yoram Novick, Maxta founder, president and CEO. "Maxta will use this opportunity to tap into Intel's significant engineering and marketing resources to provide superior VM-centric storage solutions."

"There is a transformation underway in how storage is implemented in the virtual data center, and Maxta's VM-centric storage platform provides customers a highly efficient alternative to traditional storage," said Bev Crair, General Manager, Storage Division, Intel Corp. "By optimizing the Maxta technology for Intel platforms, we help deliver next-generation storage solutions for Intel-based platforms that reduce operational complexity and streamline IT."

"The promise of converged solutions is scalability with balanced performance, easier management, and significantly lower costs relative to legacy storage architectures," said Eric Burgener, IDC Research Director, Storage. "By working together to develop a converged platform optimized for x86 architectures, Maxta and Intel are delivering an agile, enterprise-class software-defined storage solution that is ready for production deployments – an attractive option for budget-conscious customers struggling to manage data growth and meet SLAs."

The Maxta Storage Platform is a hypervisor-agnostic, highly resilient enterprise storage platform for the virtual data center. It fully integrates with server virtualization at all levels from user interface to data management, while supporting all possible deployments of virtual data centers, including private, public and hybrid clouds. Through its software-only solution, Maxta turns standard servers into a converged compute and storage solution. This results in greater simplicity and economics eliminating the need for traditional storage arrays in the virtual data center.