Start-Up AutoVirt Reveals its First Product

Based in Nashua, NH, AutoVirt, Inc. announced the official launch of the company, as well as its roadmap to deliver the industry’s first fully automated and transparent data migration solution geared specifically for networked Windows file systems. In conjunction with the launch of the company, AutoVirt also announced the successful completion of its A-round of financing of $4.5 million to date from world-renowned investors Sigma Partners and Kepha Partners. The funds will be utilized for product development and preliminary go-to-market activities.

Historically, the high-end of the market has enjoyed a choice from a number of product offerings. However, these data migration products have proven to be too expensive for mid-range companies to employ. AutoVirt software will leverage its automated virtualization technology to provide mid-range IT Managers with a sophisticated, yet easy to use, transparent data migration solution. With AutoVirt, these IT Managers will no longer have to devote nights and weekends to the tedious job of migrating data. AutoVirt will offer the ideal solution — an easy to acquire, deploy, and manage solution at a highly affordable price. Finally, mid-range IT Managers will have the freedom to focus on more critical revenue generating activities.

 Transparent and out-of-band solution

"After 50 years of advancements in commercial IT, why is it that year after year we still are talking about the same tactical challenges? Data migration is still a huge problem that everyone has to contend with — an issue exacerbated by exponential data growth. It is astounding to me that so few focus on solving this real world problem," said Steve Duplessie, founder and senior analyst, Enterprise Strategy Group (ESG). "Hat’s off to AutoVirt who is doing just that. Out of the gate, the AutoVirt solution will help IT managers to overcome one of their greatest pain-points — Windows data migration."

"For the first time ever, customers will be able to easily acquire a data migration solution via an entirely online purchase and deployment process — with no incremental work, downtime, configurations changes, or client software agents required. Furthermore, the AutoVirt solution is out-of-band, thus eliminating the associated cost and complexity of an in-band approach," said Klavs Landberg, founder and chief technology officer (CTO), AutoVirt. "With AutoVirt, administrators will be able to automate one of their most painful, time consuming, and error prone tasks, effortlessly and with consistent results."

AutoVirt Customer Advisory Board and Early Adopter Program
AutoVirt conducted a study to identify and survey IT management executives with interest in an affordable and easy-to-use data migration solution. AutoVirt then went on to have in-depth conversations with respondents.

"The discussions confirmed that data migration has become one of IT management’s biggest headaches," said Diane Clay, vice president of marketing, AutoVirt. "However, what was more interesting is that this pain and the interest in a viable solution were so great, that these customers agreed without hesitation to join our Customer Advisory Board and potentially, our Early Adopter Program."

"Members of the Customer Advisory Board have played a key role in helping to define the requirements of the AutoVirt solution — the first and only online data migration solution aimed at the rapidly growing mid-market," Clay continued. "Members of the Early Adopter Program will have the opportunity to deploy and utilize the software in their own environments. We were careful not to name this program a ‘Beta Program’ because rather than de-bug our software — which is our job — these customers will be asked to validate the software’s applicability and effectiveness in solving real problems in real customer environments."

World-class Management Team with Enviable Depth and Breadth of Experience

• Klavs Landberg, Founder and CTO — A visionary software architect and innovator, Klavs Landberg has enjoyed over 30 years of successful engineering and product development experience, with particular expertise in networking, operating, file systems, and data storage. Prior to founding AutoVirt, Landberg held senior executive management positions at Sun, Data General/CLARiiON, Datapoint, Alliant, and Regnecentralen in Denmark. Landberg graduated from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark.
• Diane Clay, Vice President of Marketing — With over 25 years of successful product marketing and management experience, Diane Clay brings an enviable breadth and depth of data storage hardware and software expertise to AutoVirt. Prior to joining the company, Clay held senior marketing management positions with Revivio, ProvisionSoft, and EMC, as well as several early-stage leading-edge technology companies. Clay holds a BSBS from the University of Missouri – Columbia, and an MBA in Marketing from Clark University’s Graduate School of Management.
• Rick Knowles, Vice President of Engineering — Rick Knowles is a software executive with over 20 years of successful product development experience. Knowles has significant expertise in Windows, Windows real-time extensions, Linux, UNIX and several embedded operating systems. His earlier work included the creation of disruptive security appliance technology. Knowles has held executive management positions at AMCC, Predatorwatch, Ardence, and GraphON. He holds a BSEE from Northeastern University and a MSCS from University of Massachusetts, Lowell.