Exponential Storage: Security Through Openness




By Allison Connolly
The Baltimore Sun

03/16/08 4:00 AM PT


The NSA and Defense Department have embraced
open source security software to guard their networks. Columbia,
Md.-based Sourcefire, which developed network security software from
the open source community, has a number of government contracts to
protect sensitive data. The NSA declined to comment on whether it would
use a product such as Exponential's, saying it doesn't discuss how its
operating system works.



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A small Annapolis, Md., startup
is using free software developed by scores of online users to build a
data storage company that it claims will be secure enough to store
sensitive government data like satellite images of terrorist hideouts
in Afghanistan.

hopes to one day persuade the National Security Agency and other
government bureaus to hire the company for its data storage network.
Its focus on NSA seems to have potential: The agency already
established that open source software can be made secure and uses it
for some computer functions.
Three-year-old Exponential has yet to land a customer but executives
said they expect to secure their first round of investor financing
soon. The company's five founders developed a network using open source
software that they believe would make storing large amounts of data --
from satellite images to patient X-rays -- easier and cheaper, Chief
Executive Officer Wick Keating said.


Glut of Data



The data storage business is booming as more people use computers to
collect documents, photographs and streaming video. What makes
Exponential unique is that it combines open source software with a
cluster architecture that uses a network of servers on the Internet to
build pockets of data storage space.
The process is "leading edge," said analyst Benjamin Woo, vice president of enterprise storage systems at
an information technology consulting firm in Framingham, Mass. Woo said
Exponential's methods make data storage more flexible, and allows the
customer to more easily expand its space when needed.
"The government is requiring that we store more and more data," Woo said.


A Mere 60 TB, for Starters



It took two years for Exponential to develop what it calls the right
combination of open source software that makes its network capable of
storing enough data securely. A patent is pending on the combination.
The company is aiming its product at three types of customers: health care, media and defense.
The product that Exponential hopes to persuade customers to support
is a cluster of five servers that can each store 12 terabytes' worth of
data. A terabyte is the equivalent of 1,000 gigabytes. An iPod with 160
gigabytes of storage, for example, can hold up to 40,000 songs or 200
hours of video.
With five servers, the product demo offers 60 terabytes' worth of
storage, which is the equivalent of about 80 percent of NetFlix's
inventory of 50,000 movies, Keating said. The network can distribute a
multigigabyte video file simultaneously to thousands of users.
Customers can order as many servers as they want depending on how much
data they need to store. The data are stored on the servers' disk
drives.


Both Open and Secure



Open source means the software's programming code is free and
available for anyone to use and modify, and often can be downloaded
from the Internet. Users customize and encrypt the programs to make
them secure.
The NSA and Defense Department have embraced open source security
software to guard their networks. Columbia, Md.-based Sourcefire, which
developed network security software from the open source community, has
a number of government contracts to protect sensitive data.
The NSA declined to comment on whether it would use a product such
as Exponential's, saying it doesn't discuss how its operating system
works.


Plenty of Business



Big players such asSun Microsystems
and up-and-comers such as Isilon Systems are already in the cluster
architecture storage space, Woo said, but there should be enough
business to go around.
Isilon spokesperson Jay Wampold said the government is an ideal
customer for clustered architecture because customers can expand
capacity when needed by adding more storage servers to the system. He
said his company has a number of government clients but declined to
disclose them.
Wampold said his Seattle-based company has avoided operating with
open source software, saying it is difficult to manage. He hadn't heard
of Exponential Storage but said there will be enough business to go
around given the expanding need for storing more data.
Industry experts say the use of open source software among computer
storage companies is growing. The Storage Networking Industry
Association, which represents about 400 storage companies, is
developing standards for open source storage software as a platform
that everyone would be able to use.


'More Than a Trend'



Sun Microsystems, (Nasdaq: CSCO)
have formed a group called "Aperi" to develop open source storage
management software. "The use of open source software is more than a
trend," said Vincent Franceschini, chairman of the industry group. "It
could become a strategic approach going forward."
With the proliferation of data-heavy Web sites such as
the computer storage industry's capacity needs will grow at a rate of
57.4 percent per year over the next five years, Woo said. At the same
time, the cost for storage is coming down, at a rate of 33.7 percent
each year. In 2006, the cost of storing a gigabyte of data was US$8,
while in 2011, the price-per gigabyte will be less than $1, according
to IDC's forecast.
Exponential's founders pooled their savings to start the storage
company in 2005, a year after AMS, an IT consulting and integration
company based in Fairfax, Va., where three of them worked, was sold.
Keating had been AMS' chief technology officer. Exponential's only
employees are the five founders.


Out of Stealth Mode



They said they are close to securing their first round of private
investment, about $750,000. They also are searching for their first
customer.
Last month, Exponential's founders threw a housewarming party at the
Chesapeake Innovation Center, the state's homeland security incubator
in Annapolis, more than a year after they moved in. Keating said the
company wanted to stay "stealth" until its technology was far enough
along that it would be tough for a competitor to copy it.
For Keating, it was not only important to establish the company's
headquarters in Maryland to be near NSA and other federal government
agencies. His ties to the state date back to the 1600s, when his
ancestors settled on the Eastern Shore; and to the War of 1812, when
his great-great-great-grandfather, Levin Winder, was governor.
He said Exponential will stay small, and rely on subcontractors to
build servers and market them, and provide customer support. "We've
projected healthy growth," Keating said. "But when you start at zero,
it takes a while to be come a Sun" Microsystems.






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