View source for Avere Systems

{{short description|Technology company that produces computer data storage}}
{{Infobox company
| logo = 
| name = Avere Systems, Inc
| type = [[Private Company|Private]]
| foundation = 2008
| founder = Ronald Bianchini, Jr. <br /> [[Michael L. Kazar]] <br /> Dan Nydick
| location_city = [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]]
| location_country = United States
| key_people =Ronald Bianchini, Jr., CEO<br /> [[Michael L. Kazar]], ([[Chief Technical Officer|CTO]]) 
| products =
| website = {{Url |www.averesystems.com}}
}}
'''Avere Systems''' was a privately held technology company that produces [[computer data storage]] and [[data management]] infrastructure. The company was founded in 2008<ref name="VB" /> and is based in [[Pittsburgh]], [[Pennsylvania]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapId=52511327|title=Avere Systems, Inc.|website=Bloomberg|accessdate=3 August 2017}}</ref> On January 3, 2018, the company announced that it was being acquired by [[Microsoft]].<ref name="seattletimes.com">{{cite web|url=https://www.seattletimes.com/business/microsoft/microsoft-buying-cloud-storage-startup-avere-systems/|title=Microsoft buying cloud storage startup Avere Systems|website=[[Seattle Times]]|date=3 January 2018 |accessdate=3 January 2018}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite web|last=Novet|first=Jordan|date=2018-01-03|title=Microsoft buys Avere to boost its hybrid cloud strategy; start-up counted Google among investors|url=https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/03/microsoft-acquires-avere-systems.html|access-date=2020-07-27|website=CNBC|language=en}}</ref>

Avere's clients include the [[Centers for Disease Control and Prevention]]'s Office of Infectious Diseases, the [[Library of Congress]], [[Turner Broadcasting System|Turner Broadcasting]] and [[Rising Sun Pictures]].<ref name=CDC/><ref name=Library/><ref name=VB/>

==History==

Avere Systems was founded in Pittsburgh in 2008 by Ronald Bianchini, Jr., Ph.D., [[Michael L. Kazar]], Ph.D and Dan Nydick. In December 2008, Avere announced a $15 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=15000000|start_year=2008}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) investment led by [[Menlo Ventures]]<ref>{{cite web | title=Menlo Ventures Portfolio | url=http://www.menloventures.com/portfolio | publisher=Menlo Ventures | year=2014 | accessdate=2014-03-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140330111906/http://www.menloventures.com/portfolio | archive-date=2014-03-30 | url-status=dead }}</ref> and [[Norwest Venture Partners]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Norwest Venture Portfolio |url=http://www.nvp.com/Portfolio.aspx#/current=true |publisher=Norwest Venture Portfolio |year=2014 |accessdate=2014-03-25 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413130331/http://www.nvp.com/Portfolio.aspx |archivedate=2014-04-13 }}</ref> In August 2010, Avere raised $17 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=17000000|start_year=2010}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}),<ref>{{cite web| author= | title= Avere Closes $17 Million Series B Funding Round | url=http://www.eweek.com/networking/Avere-Closes-$17-Million-Series-B-Funding-Round/ | publisher=Eweek.com | year=2014 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref> led by Tenaya Capital <ref>{{cite web| author= | title= Tenaya Capital Portfolio | url=http://www.tenayacapital.com/portfolio/enterprise_infrastructure | publisher=Tenaya Capital| year=2014 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>  with participation of existing investors. In July 2012, Avere raised $20 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=20000000|start_year=2012}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}),<ref>{{cite web | author= | title=Avere Raises 20 million in Series C funding | url=http://lsvp.com/article/avere-raises-20-million-in-series-c-funding/ | publisher=LSVP | year=2012 | accessdate=2014-03-25 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140413131934/http://lsvp.com/article/avere-raises-20-million-in-series-c-funding/ | archive-date=2014-04-13 | url-status=dead }}</ref> led by [[Lightspeed Venture Partners]].<ref>{{cite web| author= | title= LSVP Enterprise Portfolio | url=http://lsvp.com/enterprise/ | publisher= LSVP| year=2012 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref> In 2014, the company announced an additional $20 million in venture financing, bringing the total to $72 million. The series D round was led by [[Western Digital]] Capital.<ref>{{cite web |title= Avere raises $20 million in Series D venture funding |date= July 10, 2014 |work= Press release |url= http://www.averesystems.com/news-and-events/avere-systems-cracks-the-code-for-hybrid-cloud-storage-raises-20-million-to-accelerate-growth |accessdate= November 17, 2016 }}</ref> Kazar, the company's CTO, received a lifetime achievement award in 2013 for his contributions to data storage from the world's largest technology professional membership association. Avere Systems and its CEO, Ronald Bianchini Jr. won the Carnegie Science Award for Information Technology in 2014.<ref>{{cite web| author= | title= Cohon, Nordenberg lead winners of Carnegie Science Awards for Universities' Collaboration| url=http://triblive.com/news/adminpage/5500562-74/science-nordenberg-carnegie#ixzz2wEcvc6ci | publisher= CRN.com| year=2013 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Carnegie Science Center Awardees|url=http://www.carnegiesciencecenter.org/carnegie-science-awards/carnegie-science-awards-awardees/}}</ref>

In 2014, the company announced an additional $20 million in venture financing, bringing the total to $72 million. The Series D round was led by Western Digital Capital.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://talkincloud.com/cloud-computing-funding-and-finance/avere-systems-adds-20m-series-d-funds| title=Avere Systems Adds $20M in Series D Funds| date=July 11, 2014| author=Dan Kobialka| publisher=Talkin Cloud| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref><ref name=VB>{{cite web| url=https://venturebeat.com/2014/07/10/avere-raises-20m-to-make-its-storage-boxes-a-hit-for-high-performance-at-scale/| title=Avere raises $20M to deliver scalable storage for hybrid clouds| author=Jordan Novet| date=July 10, 2014| publisher=Venture Beat| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref> In 2015, Avere was named as Google's cloud platform technology partner of the year.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.itpro.co.uk/storage/28895/the-it-press-tour-strongbox-data-solutions-avere-systems-and-e8-storage|title=The IT Press Tour: StrongBox Data Solutions, Avere Systems and E8 Storage|publisher=IT Pro|first=Zach|last=Marzouk|date=June 21, 2017|access-date=July 16, 2017}}</ref>

In March 2017, Avere raised an additional $14 million (~${{Format price|{{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=14000000|start_year=2017}}}} in {{Inflation/year|US-GDP}}) in a funding round that included previous investors and [[Google]].<ref name=BusIn>{{cite web | url = http://www.businessinsider.com/google-invests-in-avere-systems-2017-3 | title = Google Made an Unusual Move by Investing Millions in this Pittsburgh Storage Startup | first= Matt | last = Weinberger| date = March 21, 2017 | publisher=Business Insider | accessdate = May 18, 2017}}</ref> As of March 2017, the company had raised over $90 million in funding.<ref name=BusIn/>

On January 3, 2018, the company announced that it was being acquired by [[Microsoft]].<ref name="seattletimes.com"/>  Terms of the acquisition have not been disclosed.<ref name=":0" />

==Operations==
Avere Systems released its first FXT Series storage appliances in November 2009. The FXT series uses automated storage tiering to process data. The company launched a virtual version of its filer, called the Virtual FXT Edge filer (vFXT)  to enable customers to use cloud compute without moving data from on-premises storage.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.enterprisetech.com/2014/11/05/avere-introduces-virtual-fxt-edge-filer/| title=Avere Introduces Virtual FXT Edge Filer | date=5 November 2014 |publisher=EnterpriseTech|accessdate=5 February 2015}}</ref> In 2016, Avere released the FXT 5000 series of edge filers, which doubled performance and capacity over previous models.<ref name=mesa>{{cite web| url=http://www.mesalliance.org/2016/06/02/avere-systems-making-sense-of-unstructured-data/| title=Avere Systems: Making Sense of Unstructured Data| date=June 2, 2016| author=Jeff Hyatt| publisher=Media & Entertainment Services Alliance| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref> The 5200 model was released for users with lower performance workloads in April 2016.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/content-tracks/servers-storage/avere-brings-fxt-5000-features-to-the-lower-end-of-the-market/96021.fullarticle| title=Avere brings FXT 5000 features to the lower end of the market| author=Eric Doyle| date=April 18, 2016| publisher=Datacenter Dynamics| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref>

In September 2016, Avere released the C2N System, a hybrid [[Network-attached storage|NAS]]/object storage appliance.<ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.computerweekly.com/news/450400008/Is-it-NAS-Is-it-object-storage-Its-both-Its-Averes-C2N| title=Is it NAS? Is it object storage? It's both. It's Avere's C2N| author=Anthony Adshead| date=September 29, 2016| publisher=Computer Weekly| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.storagereview.com/avere_unveils_cloudcore_nas_c2n_system| title=Avere Unveils Cloud-Core NAS (C2N) System| author=Adam Armstron| date=September 20, 2016| publisher=Storage Review| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref>

Avere is a member of the [[Standards Performance Evaluation Corporation]].<ref>{{cite web|title=All Published SPEC SFS2008 Results|url=http://www.spec.org/sfs2008/results/sfs2008nfs.html}}</ref> and has active technology partnerships with [[Amazon Web Services]], [[Google Cloud Platform]], [[HGST]]/[[Amplidata]], [[IBM]], and SwiftStack.<ref name=mesa/><ref>{{cite web| url=https://www.theregister.co.uk/2015/09/17/avere_swiftstack_s3/| title=Avere's SwiftStack S3 hack tack| author=Chris Mellor| date=September 17, 2015| publisher=The Register| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref> The [[Library of Congress]] uses Avere in its storage network for access to images and other digital resources requested by site visitors.<ref name=Library>{{cite web| author= | title= Avere Wins Library of Congress Data Storage Deal| url=http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/blog/morning-edition/2013/06/avere-wins-library-of-congress-data.html?s=image_gallery | publisher= Bizjournals.com| year=2013 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref> In November 2014, Avere announced selection by the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC) Office of Infectious Diseases (OID) to power its genomic sequencing storage environment.<ref name=CDC>{{cite web| author= Peter Judge | title= CDC chooses Avere for Data Center Project| url=http://www.datacenterdynamics.com/news/cdc-chooses-avere-for-data-center-project/91581.fullarticle|website=datacenterdynamics.com|publisher=Data Center Dynamics|accessdate=23 November 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite web| url=http://pittsburgh.crains.com/article/news/avere-systems-ceo-views-data-storage-cloud| title=Avere Systems CEO views data storage from the cloud| author=Debra Smit| date=December 6, 2016| publisher=Crain's Pittsburgh| access-date=February 17, 2017}}</ref>

Avere's technology has been used by visual effects studios for rendering special effects as well as for cloud storage of data available to multiple users. The FXT Edge filers were designed to maximize storage performance to improve workload efficiency.  All data is encrypted with AES-256 encryption and complies with federal security standard FIPS 140-2.<ref name=mesa/> Visual effects studios such as [[DreamWorks Pictures|DreamWorks]],<ref>{{cite web| author= | title= Dreamworks' Storage Tiers Help Animate Movie Making| url=http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240180565/Dreamworks-storage-tiers-help-animate-movie-making/ | publisher= Search Storage| year=2013 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref> [[Digital Domain]],<ref>{{cite web| author= | title= Private NAS Cloud Saves Digital Production Studio Millions of Dollars| url=http://searchcloudstorage.techtarget.com/news/2240146880/Private-NAS-cloud-saves-digital-production-studio-millions-of-dollars | publisher= Search Storage| year=2012 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref> Image Engine<ref>{{cite web| author= | title= The Hidden Data Magic Behind 'Zero Dark Thirty'| url=https://www.bloomberg.com/video/how-avere-is-changing-the-way-movies-are-made-suGPdSl9RPOmeUcTK~3AIA.html | publisher= Bloomberg| year=2012 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref> and [[Framestore]] have been reported as using Avere technology.<ref name=grav>{{cite web| author= | title= Avere Systems Keeps CGI specialists Framestore Rolling| url=http://www.computing.co.uk/ctg/feature/2268141/avere-systems-keeps-cgi-specialists-framestore-rolling | publisher= Computing.co.uk| year=2012 | accessdate=2014-03-25}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
* {{official website|https://www.averesystems.com/}}

[[Category:Computer companies established in 2008]]
[[Category:2008 establishments in Pennsylvania]]
[[Category:Companies based in Pittsburgh]]
[[Category:Information technology companies of the United States]]
[[Category:Cloud storage gateways]]
[[Category:Microsoft acquisitions]]
[[Category:Microsoft subsidiaries]]
[[Category:2018 mergers and acquisitions]]