Storwize

Storwize, Inc. was an Israeli data storage company founded in 2004 by Gal Naor and Jonathan Amit. The firm specialized in real-time data compression solutions designed to optimize storage capacity for enterprises. Storwize's core technology, the Random Access Compression Engine™ (RACE), enabled the compression of primary, actively used data—such as files, databases, and virtualization images—without degrading performance. This allowed clients to store up to five times more data in the same physical space, thereby reducing costs associated with storage acquisition, power, and cooling.

The company's main products were appliances, like the Storwize STN series, that were installed between a client's network and their existing storage arrays. These appliances worked transparently with popular Network Attached Storage (NAS) systems from various vendors, including EMC, HP, and NetApp. Before its acquisition, Storwize had secured over 100 customers across diverse industries like finance, manufacturing, telecommunications, and cloud services. The company's headquarters were initially in Yehud, Israel, but later moved to Marlborough, Massachusetts, to be closer to its primary market in the US.

In July 2010, IBM announced its acquisition of Storwize for approximately $140 million, a deal that was finalized in August of the same year. The acquisition was a strategic move for IBM to enhance its data storage portfolio with advanced, real-time compression capabilities. Following the acquisition, Storwize was integrated into IBM's Systems and Technology Group. IBM leveraged Storwize's technology to create the IBM Storwize family of storage systems, which launched in 2011. This product line combined Storwize's compression with IBM's existing technologies like the SAN Volume Controller (SVC) and Easy Tier for automated data tiering. The Storwize family offered a range of hybrid and all-flash storage solutions (V3000, V5000, and V7000 series) that provided data virtualization, high availability, and simplified management for mid-sized and large enterprises. The product line was eventually succeeded by the IBM FlashSystem in February 2020.

Keywords: data compression, storage optimization, primary data, real-time compression, storage virtualization, IBM Storwize, SAN Volume Controller, data reduction, network attached storage, storage efficiency, all-flash storage, hybrid storage, data tiering, storage consolidation, IBM FlashSystem, enterprise storage, data management, IT infrastructure, storage hardware, data integrity