Coraid, Inc.
| Company type | Private |
|---|---|
| Industry | Computer data storage solutions |
| Founded | 2000 |
| Founder | Brantley Coile |
| Headquarters | Athens , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Dave Kresse (former CEO), Brantley Coile (founder) |
| Products | EtherDrive storage arrays, EtherDrive SRX and VSX products |
Number of employees | Unknown (terminated all employees in January 2015) |
Coraid, Inc. is a provider of computer data storage solutions focused on storage area network (SAN) technologies that utilize Ethernet. The company is based in Athens, Georgia.
History
Coraid was established by Brantley Coile, who previously contributed to the development of the Cisco PIX firewall and Cisco LocalDirector. After departing from Cisco Systems in 2000, Coile initiated research and development efforts that led to the creation of the ATA over Ethernet (AoE) protocol, which facilitates storage networking through direct transmission of raw Ethernet frames.
The introduction of Coraid’s EtherDrive storage arrays occurred in 2004. The AoE protocol was made openly available to the Linux community and became part of the Linux kernel starting with version 2.6.11 released in 2005.
Throughout its growth, Coraid secured a total of $114.3 million in funding. The initial $10 million investment came in January 2010 from venture capital firms, coinciding with leadership changes and the formation of an advisory board. Early that year, the company also moved its headquarters to Redwood City, CA. Additional financing rounds included $25 million in Series B funding in November 2010, $50 million in a third round during November 2011, and a final $29.3 million round in December 2013.
Coraid’s customer base exceeded 1,700 clients spanning industries such as media, hosting services, telecommunications, healthcare, aerospace, manufacturing, and government.
In January 2015, CEO Dave Kresse revealed a shortage of funding. On January 14, 2015, the company terminated all employees suddenly, providing final paychecks but no severance packages.
By May 2015, The Brantley Coile Company had acquired all assets related to EtherDrive SRX and VSX products. In August 2016, SouthSuite secured ownership of the Coraid trademark. Subsequently, shipments of Coraid’s hardware and software offerings—including VSX and SRX models—resumed in 2017.