Aarohi communication

Aarohi Communications operated as a supplier of intelligent data center networking components and software. The company was established in 1999 with its headquarters in San Jose, California, and a significant engineering team based in Bangalore, India. The founders included Shanti Subbaraman, who also served as the managing director of the India operations. The founding team's vision was to address the growing need for efficient data management in large-scale computer networks. They focused on developing "storage process engines" to manage vast quantities of data, a critical need as corporations increasingly utilized the internet, creating backup "mirror sites" and disaster recovery centers.

Aarohi's business centered on creating building blocks for storage area networking (SAN) products. These products aimed to enhance storage performance, improve resource management, and boost network reliability. The company targeted storage vendors with its "application-aware storage networking" solutions, designed to meet market demands for availability, manageability, and security. Their intelligent processor technology, such as the AV150 Intelligent Storage Processor, enabled features like non-disruptive data migration, data replication, and heterogeneous volume management. This technology positioned them to serve emerging markets in 10Gb/s data center networking and intelligent storage platforms. The company secured significant venture funding, raising $15 million in 2001 from investors like TeleSoft Partners and Broadview Venture Partners, with angel investment from executives at companies such as Broadcom, Cisco, and Juniper Networks. By 2004, the company had raised a total of $36 million.

In a significant milestone, Aarohi Communications was acquired by Emulex Corporation in May 2006 for a transaction value of approximately $39 million. The acquisition was a strategic move for Emulex to expand its capabilities into 10Gb/s data center networking and intelligent storage platforms, including storage virtualization. At the time of the acquisition, Aarohi had approximately 72 employees, primarily engineers. The deal provided Emulex with Aarohi's processor technology and software, such as FabricStream, which facilitated volume management and data migration. Following the acquisition, Aarohi's stock option plan was assumed by Emulex.

Keywords: storage process engines, data center networking, storage area networking, SAN components, intelligent storage platforms, storage virtualization, data migration, data replication, volume management, network reliability, application-aware storage, AV150 Intelligent Storage Processor, Emulex acquisition, Shanti Subbaraman, data management solutions, network storage ICs, storage resource management, intelligent processor technology, FabricStream software