Permabit Steps on the CAS

Startup Permabit Inc. is trying to execute a tricky bit of marketing jujitsu: First, it's stealing a term coined by EMC Corp. (NYSE: EMC) -- content-addressed storage -- and then it's turning around and saying it can do CAS better than EMC.

The Cambridge, Mass., startup this week launched Permeon, a storage system that uses a proprietary object-based file system written in Java that's designed to store huge amounts of fixed content. To applications accessing the storage, Permeon looks like a standard Network File System (NFS) server (see Permabit Launches, Names CEO).

"Our intent is to set a new standard for content addressed storage and make it more broadly used in the industry," says COO Rich Vito.

When an application (or user) writes a file to a folder located on a Permeon server, the system performs a hash so that redundant information is stored only once. It also performs some file coalescence, breaking the file into smaller chunks. [Ed. note: Permabit's Permeon, by the way, should be not confused with the artificial rock varnish of the same name.]

The product is delivered as a 1U-high PC server with four 200-Gbyte ATA drives. Permabit says the servers can be clustered together to provide up to 40 Tbytes of storage. Vito claims there's nothing preventing it from supporting the Windows-based Common Internet File System (CIFS) protocol, and at some point Permabit may add that capability.EMC first introduced the "CAS" term when it launched its Centera disk-based repository for fixed content -- data that's created and then never modified -- in April 2002 (see EMC Has Eyes for Huge Archives).

But according to Permabit, its own CAS product overcomes Centera's major weaknesses. Permeon doesn't require any changes to the applications accessing it, while Centera uses a proprietary interface. In addition, the startup boasts that Permeon can be deployed in a smaller initial configuration: It starts at $32,000 for a 1.6-Tbyte system ($20 per gigabyte), whereas EMC's Centera starts at $148,000 for 8 terabytes.

"We're not disruptive -- we don't require customers to buy new applications -- and we can be purchased in an incremental way," Vito says.

Other vendors, including Avamar Inc., Network Appliance Inc. (Nasdaq: NTAP), and Storage Technology Corp. (StorageTek) (NYSE: STK), are also delivering disk-based systems for storing data that previously would have been dumped to tape (see our report, Disk Backup 101).

To lead the fight against EMC, Permabit recently hired as CEO Randy Seidl, who spent 11 years as a sales and marketing executive at EMC. We're told that he was EMC Employee No. 33 -- but maybe Permabit's customers won't hold that against him.Most recently, Seidl was EVP of sales and services at (and co-founder of) GiantLoop Network Inc. Prior to that, he was CEO of the now-defunct Linux developer Workgroup Solutions Inc.

Permabit, founded in June 2000, has received $10.5 million through two rounds of funding from Baker Capital Corp., Global Strategic Investment Fund, and TechQuest Capital Partners. It currently has 32 employees.

So far, Permabit has two reference customers: Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, which is using Permeon to store and retrieve X-rays, and amateur photography site Photo.net.

Permabit plans to sell entirely through channel partners, but the company wasn't able to name any of them yet. It's also in discussions with potential application partners, including CommVault Systems Inc. and KVS Inc.

"EMC's making it easier for us because they're buying these people's competitors," says Vito, referring to EMC's acquisitions of Documentum Inc. and Legato Systems Inc. (Nasdaq: LGTO). He says several of Documentum's partners are now looking for new partners in the storage market (see EMC Swings Into Software Big Leagues and EMC Cops Documentum).Todd Spangler, US Editor, Byte and Switch