DataCore Software, the authority on software-defined storage, today announced that it has acquired Caringo, Inc. The combined entity will enable DataCore to offer complete, best-of-breed software-defined storage solutions for block, file, and object-from a single vendor. The acquisition will also add talent and expertise to the DataCore team, as well as customers in key markets such as cloud service providers, media, and government.

Caringo was a pioneer in the object storage market, founded in 2005 to change the economics of storage by designing software to solve the issues associated with relentless data growth. Its flagship product, Swarm, provides a foundation for hyperscale data storage, access, and analysis at petabyte scale, while guaranteeing data integrity and eliminating hardware dependencies. Caringo software-defined solutions are now used to efficiently manage rapidly scaling data sets by organizations such as BT Television, Department of Defense, Disney Streaming Services, National Institutes of Health (NIH), Argonne National Labs, and hundreds more worldwide.

The acquisition of Caringo further accelerates the DataCore ONE vision: to realize the power of software-defined storage to break silos and hardware dependencies and unify the storage industry, enabling IT to make storage smarter, more effective, and easier to manage.

Caringo's product line complements DataCore's leading software-defined storage portfolio including: vFilO software, a next-generation distributed file and object storage virtualization technology uniquely designed to help enterprises organize, optimize, and control large volumes of data scattered on-premises and in the cloud, as well as the benefits of hardware independence, flexibility, availability, performance, and efficiency/cost savings provided by DataCore SANsymphony software for block-based storage.

"This latest acquisition expands DataCore's ability to offer its customers the right solution for their technical and business needs, whether the answer is block, file, or object-or a combination," said Scott Sinclair, senior analyst at ESG. "Businesses and IT organizations have been turning to software-defined storage for years now as a way to increase infrastructure flexibility and choice while also helping to reduce the cost of managing large volumes of data efficiently and securely. This move makes DataCore's portfolio even stronger and more valuable to its customers as they work to achieve those goals."

"DataCore's acquisition of Caringo offers compelling use case advantages and product synchronization, with both platforms offering enterprises the benefits of fast recovery, zero downtime and fast throughput software-defined storage running on x86 commodity hardware," said Barry Griffiths, Managing Director of NAS UK Ltd, a long-term Caringo and DataCore partner. "It will bring together best of breed software solutions for managing and archiving structured and unstructured data-not least because one of the biggest challenges that IT managers worldwide will face in 2021 is how to effortlessly move swiftly growing capacities of unstructured block and file data easily into the cloud/object world."

"IT is accelerating adoption of software-defined storage technologies as it has proven to deliver flexibility, hardware independence, and efficiency. Object storage adoption is rapidly increasing as more companies look for more cost-effective, secure, and reliable methods to manage large amounts of data," said Jeff Horing, co-founder and managing director at Insight Partners. "We are excited DataCore is adding leading object storage technology from Caringo to become the vendor with the most comprehensive software-defined portfolio in the industry."

The acquisition news comes on the heels of a strong 2020 close for DataCore. The company is consistently adding well over 100 new customers per quarter and saw double-digit (YoY) growth in capacity sold and customer expansion in Q4. DataCore also added multiple key executives in the last year including Kevin Thimble, chief financial officer; Geoff Danheiser, chief people officer.

The company also opened a new, modern corporate headquarters in Ft. Lauderdale, FL and a new Research & Development center in Bangalore, India to accelerate innovation. The company already has a staff of almost 30 in Bangalore, which complements other R&D centers in Eastern Europe and Florida. The acquisition of Caringo will increase DataCore's presence in Austin, where Caringo was headquartered, and where DataCore now has sales, marketing, and R&D staff. The upgraded executive team, expanded geographical resources, and expanded product portfolio position DataCore to accelerate adoption of software-defined technologies in 2021.

"In today's economic environment, IT organizations are looking for ways to save money. Yet compliance requirements, increased use of backup, business continuity, and the continuous growth of data present a challenge that object storage can solve," said Dave Zabrowski, CEO of DataCore Software. "With our acquisition of Caringo, we are excited to offer a proven, highly reliable object storage technology with an unmatched breadth of features to IT departments, service providers, and government customers worldwide. As we continue to deliver on our DataCore ONE vision with our product portfolio, we also continue to build out a world-class executive management team that will allow us to deliver the best-of-breed software-defined solutions to our customers."