SanDisk Acquires Schooner Information Technology
In flash-optimized SQL
This is a Press Release edited by StorageNewsletter.com on June 27, 2012 at 2:36 pmSanDisk Corporation announced the acquisition of Schooner Information Technology, Inc., an enterprise software company located in Silicon Valley that develops flash-optimized database and data store solutions.
Schooner’s products complement SanDisk’s growing portfolio of enterprise SSD and flash-optimized software offerings that enable customers to accelerate the performance of data-intensive applications and reduce overall cost of ownership.
Schooner’s team of database and flash optimization experts have joined SanDisk’s Enterprise Storage Solutions (ESS) team. The products will be optimized for SanDisk’s enterprise SSD portfolio as well as for enterprise SSDs from third parties.
Schooner’s products are currently deployed by U.S. and international customers, including several Fortune 500 companies. Designed to fill the gap between stock do-it-yourself open source solutions and expensive high-end database deployments, Schooner’s products deliver enterprise-grade performance, powering data center consolidation at a lower cost. Engineered for flash acceleration and enhanced with enterprise features, Schooner’s products deliver up to five times the throughput of competing configurations. In addition, they deliver near in-memory response times to mission critical applications along with enterprise-grade replication and failover capabilities.
In-memory database solutions are enabling breakthroughs in database and business intelligence applications that are only possible with solid state memories. Schooner’s ability to combine DRAM and flash memory seamlessly in a single solution offers near DRAM performance at a lower cost.
"Schooner’s products illustrate the benefits software developers and their customers can gain through flash optimization of enterprise solutions," said Greg Goelz, VP and GM of the Enterprise Storage Solutions division at SanDisk. "Schooner represents another step in SanDisk’s expansion in the enterprise space. We welcome the Schooner team to the SanDisk family."
The terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Comments
SanDisk in mainly known in the CE market for its flash cards and keys but, using its know-how in solid-state memories, has invested in higher-end products, mainly through two acquisitions: last year Pliant Technology in enterprise SSDs and now Schooner.
Based in Sunnyvale, CA, Schooner Information Technology raised $15 million in series A financing led CMEA Capital in 2007. The start-up was founded the same year by Sun veterans Dr. John Busch, CEO - now chairman and CTO of the company - and Tom McWilliams who was chairman and CTO. Since 2009 CEO is Jerry Rudisin.
The company offers two products:
- SchoonerSQL, its flagship product, is a full SQL database with HA, automated failover across LAN or WAN, and simplified administration. It's compatible with MySQL and its standard InnoDB storage engine.
- Membrain is a memcached, optimized for SSDs, used both as a pure cache or persistent NoSQL data store, standalone or as a front end to a database.
The software run on x86 hardware. The quantity-one fee for an annual subscription for SchoonerSQL is $9,500 on any server of up to two sockets, regardless of the number of processor cores. For Membrain, it's $8,500 on any server of up to 32 cores and up to 512GB of flash memory.
SanDisk's Acquisitions in SSDs
| Year |
Company |
Price* | Activity |
| 2006 | msystems | 1,500 | NAND flash technology |
| 2011 | Pliant Technology |
327 | Enterprise SSDs |
| 2012 | FlashSoft | NA | SSD caching software |
| 2012 | Schooner Information Technology |
NA | Flash-optimized database |
* in US$ millions
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