Simplifying the IT Process in Virtualized Environments
Why is SimpliVity's CEO so confident that OmniCube will be a success? Maybe it's from the run of successes he's had, starting many years ago as an Israel Defense Special Forces commander, where he deployed technology to enhance the intelligence apparatus of his country.
At the age of 20, Doron Kempel was a commander of Special Forces in the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), where it was his responsibility to identify opportunities with cutting-edge technologies that could enhance the intelligence apparatus of his country. In that capacity, he repeatedly followed the same process: identify opportunities, determine if they're feasible, assemble a team to capitalize on the opportunities, define the mission and then execute on it.
Many years later, Kempel -- who has dual citizenship in the United States and Israel -- followed that same process to achieve success with numerous civilian endeavors. Among them, he was VP of sales and marketing at Imedia, VP and general manager at EMC, and founder and CEO of Diligent Technologies, a pioneer in enterprise data de-duplication that was acquired by IBM in 2008.
Kempel is currently applying his entrepreneurial skills as chairman and CEO of SimpliVity, which he touts as a provider of simplified IT infrastructure solutions for virtualized environments. The first product from SimpliVity is OmniCube. According to Kempel: "Each OmniCube system includes simplified, extensive scale-out bandwidth; efficient, duplicated and compressed replication; low-cost, easy to manage disaster recovery; and public cloud integration."
Kempel's advisors told him OmniCube would work, so he went out in search of venture capital. The result of that effort to date is $18 million from Accel Partners and Charles River Ventures.
Kemple declares the initial reaction to OmniCube has been enthusiastic, noting that following its official introduction at VMworld in late August 2012, "We were bombarded. We had 5,000 people -- I'm not exaggerating -- visit our booth!" Unabashedly, he goes on to say that 1,000 people participated in 10-minute presentations (which he claims is "unheard of"), and 700 people took part in product demos. Everybody wants a demo; some people already want the product. Never at a loss for words, Kempel is "stunned" by the commotion.
OmniCube is still in the advanced stages of beta testing, which Kempel says is being done meticulously so the product will be finely honed by the time it goes into production, which he was hoping would be before the end of 2012.
Pricing for the new product begins at $54,990. Ever confident, Kempel asks: "Who wouldn't buy it?"
About the Author
Bruce Hoard is the new editor of Virtualization Review. Prior to taking this post, he was founding editor of Network World and spent 20 years as a freelance writer and editor in the IT industry.