Cirtas Systems Secures $10M in Funding for Bluejet Cloud Storage Controller

By Susan J. Campbell
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Cirtas Systems, Inc., the first company to make cloud storage like onsite enterprise storage arrays, has reportedly emerged from stealth and has raised $10 million in a first round of funding, according to a San Jose Biz Journals report. The cloud storage company named funders such as Amazon.com (News - Alert) and New Enterprise Association, as well as Lightspeed Venture Partners.

“It is with great pleasure that we announce our Series A funding round with investments from NEA and Lightspeed Venture Partners – two of Silicon Valley’s most respected high tech venture capital firms – and Amazon, the world’s leading cloud services and storage provider,” said Dan Decasper, co-founder and CEO of Cirtas Systems, in a statement.“Their combined support has enabled us to solve complex security, performance, and compatibility issues that have previously prevented mainstream adoption of cloud storage for general IT purposes,” he continued. “Our Bluejet Cloud Storage Controller solution is truly enterprise class and the quality and commitment of our investors speaks volumes about its market potential.”

Robert Half International has produced Cirtas’ first purchase order, even before the general market availability of the product.

“Amazon believes that the cloud service model gives businesses more options and better control over how they purchase data storage,” said Jeff Blackburn, senior vice president of corporate development at Amazon. “The enterprise is an important market segment for the Amazon S3 cloud storage platform, and Cirtas’ focus on optimizing cloud storage for the enterprise is tightly aligned with our own. We expect Cirtas to have a positive, lasting impact on our ability to serve our joint customers in this market segment.”

The Bluejet solution is positioned as putting the promise of the cloud within reach for enterprise organizations. The solution is designed to address the lingering barriers and rigorous IT standards that have previously hindered mainstream adoption of cloud storage. Through the use of WAN optimization techniques with advanced storage array virtualization capabilities, Cirtas has been able to deliver the world’s first cloud-enabled enterprise storage system

.“NEA is proud to work with some of the world's most visionary entrepreneurs and business leaders to create truly transformational companies. We strive to stay ahead of the curve by identifying market needs and technology trends that will ultimately yield rapid growth and create large markets,” said Kittu Kolluri, general partner for New Enterprise Associatino and a Cirtas investor. 

Cirtas was founded in late 2008 by Dan Decasper and Allen Samuels. The company launched a private beta program with enterprise customers in March and has begun production shipments of its Bluejet cloud storage controller. With this new funding, the company will be better positioned to drive demand and meet growing opportunities.