Storage startup Nexenta has announced its UK channel partner as it tries to disrupt the existing "mafia" of hardware-based vendors.
The software-defined storage company hopes its two-tier distribution deal with Getech will help it take business away from the likes of Netapp and EMC.
Tarkan Maner, who joined as CEO in August 2013 from Dell, told CBR he hopes to spark a revolution in the industry.
"We are passionate about changing the industry, this is a huge opportunity for revolution," he said. "It’s still very very archaic, and is still served by only a few dictators.
"Storage is so expensive and so old-school, it’s a market served by these few mafia vendors."
Nexenta boasts year-on-year growth since its inception in 2004, and has just benefitted from a large investment from SanDisk Ventures, bringing its total funding so far to $90m.
The company’s aim is to reduce storage costs by being hardware agnostic, offering up its software-defined storage for integration with any other hardware, compared to larger, older firms, which generally require customers to buy their own hardware.
Maner claimed the cost is cut significantly by doing this, costing customers $200 per TB of storage (including ancillary hardware) compared to $1,000 per TB of storage from the ‘mafia’ vendors.
He added that Nexenta’s channel deal with Getech should see its UK market share grow as it looks to expand further.
"Getech is the leader like us,in the software-defined data centre space, and in providing very strong software-defined storage. They are the Jack Russells of the industry; a lot of passion, a lot of energy – we are the same way."
