DataCore also is the only pure-play software virtualization company left after Hewlett-Packard Co. (NYSE:
HWP) acquired StorageApps, and it could feasibly be next in line to be scarfed-up (see, HP Acquires StorageApps and HDS Rebuts SAN Switch Rumors).
Shooting up three spots to number four, Scale Eight Inc. is perhaps the most interesting and controversial move on this list. On the face of it, this company should be dead and buried like most of the other SSPs in this sector. After all, Scale Eight still co-locates storage arrays in Exodus data centers and rents out capacity on demand; and with Exodus Communications Inc. (OTC: EXDSQ) in such bad shape, the future for any company co-locating in its data centers is up in the air (see Exodus: What's Next?). Still, Scale Eight assures us it is checking out other co-location deals in case Exodus doesnt make it.
And, more importantly, what sets Scale Eight apart from other SSPs is that it is also bundling some rather natty file management software with its services, which are targeted at an extremely lucrative niche of multimedia broadcasters (see SwapDrive Chooses Scale Eight and Scale Eight Wins With ImageState).
A typical example is Octavo, a document preservation company, which uses Scale Eights global storage service to store digitized documents and share them with libraries, museums, and universities around the world.
Scale Eight is already signing up customers hand over fist. If it can find success in todays economic doldrums, imagine what it could do when the business environment picks up?
