HP will resell Scality's storage software to make servers into better data stewards

Scality, a startup with software for controlling all the storage available inside a company’s servers across multiple data centers, is announcing today that it has inked a deal with major server maker HP, expanding the startup’s reach.

Now that HP sales reps are able to sell Scality’s Ring software along with HP’s ProLiant servers, they could have a better shot at teasing companies away from EMC and NetApp, which sell sophisticated storage hardware, Scality chief executive Jérôme Lecat told VentureBeat. Meanwhile, the move means new reach for Scality.

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“We expect it’s going to boost revenue of the company considerably,” Lecat said.

That means Scality could more aggressively compete with other software-defined storage startups. Red Hat recently bought a startup in that domain, Inktank, which sells commercial subscriptions to a version of the Ceph open-source block- and object-storage software.

And Lecat suspects the startup faces a big opportunity in the years to come.

“Software-defined storage is not a huge market today, but my assessment is by 2020 it’s a $5 billion market,” he said.

San Francisco-based Scality announced a $22 million round of funding in July 2013.

Lecat said he foresees an initial public offering as soon as 2017.