Nimble Storage
| File:Nimble-logo-2lines-300x300 16.jpg | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Information technology, data storage, solid state drives |
| Founded | 2008 |
| Headquarters | , |
Key people | Varun Mehta, co-founder Umesh Maheshwari, co-founder and CTO Suresh Vasudevan, CEO |
| Products | AF-Series Predictive All Flash arrays: AF1000, AF3000, AF5000, AF7000, AF9000 CS-Series Adaptive Flash arrays: CS1000/H, CS3000, CS5000, CS7000 |
Number of employees | 1000+ |
| Parent | Hewlett Packard Enterprise |
Nimble Storage, established in 2008, operates as a subsidiary under Hewlett Packard Enterprise. The company focuses on developing hardware and software solutions for data storage, particularly data storage arrays that utilize iSCSI and Fibre Channel technologies, incorporating built-in backup and data protection capabilities.
History
Entrepreneurs Varun Mehta and Umesh Maheshwari founded Nimble Storage in January 2008. The firm introduced its initial product lineup with the CS200 series hybrid arrays in July 2010. By September 2012, Nimble secured $40.7 million in capital from investors such as Artis Capital Management and GGV Capital.
Varun Mehta led as CEO until March 2011 before transitioning to the role of VP of engineering. Subsequently, Suresh Vasudevan assumed the CEO position while Umesh Maheshwari became CTO. Nimble Storage went public on December 13, 2013, debuting on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker NMBL.
The company broadened its offerings with the launch of the CS700 Series Arrays and an All-Flash Shelf in June 2014, featuring Adaptive Flash technology. In November 2014, it expanded protocol support to include Fibre Channel. By July 2015, Nimble enhanced its platform by introducing software-based encryption named Nimble SmartSecure, all-flash service tiers, REST APIs, per-VM monitoring through InfoSight-VMVision, and integrated data protection features. The Adaptive Flash platform attained Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 certification in August 2015.
Nimble demonstrated significant growth momentum, ranking sixth on Deloitte's Technology Fast 500 list for North America in November 2015. In February 2016, it unveiled the Predictive All Flash Array series that merges flash storage speed with InfoSight Predictive Analytics. This was followed by the release of the AF-1000 Series All Flash array and an updated CS-Series Adaptive Flash line in August 2016.
In October 2016, Nimble entered into a strategic alliance with Lenovo to provide the ThinkAgile CX Series solution.
On March 7, 2017, Hewlett Packard Enterprise announced its acquisition of Nimble Storage for approximately $1.09 billion in cash; the transaction was finalized on April 5, 2017.
All Flash Arrays
The AF-Series from Nimble Storage combines flash technology with InfoSight Predictive Analytics to deliver high-performance solutions tailored for data center environments. This series includes models such as AF1000, AF3000, AF5000, AF7000, and AF9000.
Adaptive Flash Arrays
Nimble’s CS-Series storage arrays, available in both iSCSI and Fibre Channel configurations, offer hybrid solutions that integrate HDDs and SSDs across four distinct models: CS200, CS300, CS500, and CS700. In August 2016, this series was updated to include the CS1000/H, CS3000, CS5000, and CS7000 models. Additionally, Nimble provides an All-Flash Shelf option to augment the capacity of existing CS-Series arrays. This adaptive flash design strategically combines the high speed of flash storage with cost-efficient disk drives to deliver optimized performance tailored to a variety of workload demands.
Secondary Flash Arrays
Following its merger with Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Nimble introduced the Secondary Flash Array—a hybrid system built on Nimble’s core architecture but enhanced with advanced deduplication capabilities—primarily intended for use as a backup storage target.
SmartStack reference architectures
Nimble partners with Cisco Systems to develop SmartStack, an integrated infrastructure solution that merges compute, networking, and storage components into Cisco Validated Designs. These designs are engineered for applications including desktop virtualization (VDI), server virtualization, cloud environments, mission-critical business software, Oracle databases, and SAP HANA deployments.
NimbleOS
NimbleOS is the company’s proprietary operating system featuring a patented file system and Cache Accelerated Sequential Layout (CASL) technology. It enables adaptable flash scaling, dynamic flash caching, write-optimized data organization, inline compression, flexible scaling options both vertically and horizontally, snapshot capabilities with built-in data protection, efficient replication processes, deduplication functions, and zero-copy cloning.
InfoSight Predictive Analytics
InfoSight represents Nimble Storage’s management platform incorporating advanced predictive analytics aimed at improving storage resource utilization and customer support services. The solution consists of three main elements: the InfoSight Engine—a data analytics platform utilizing predictive algorithms for comprehensive system evaluation and forecasting; the InfoSight Portal—a secure web-based interface granting users access to these insights; and Proactive Wellness—which issues notifications regarding system health, performance metrics, and potential protection vulnerabilities to facilitate rapid problem resolution.
Unified Flash Fabric
Nimble Storage’s Unified Flash Fabric merges its All Flash and Adaptive Flash product lines into a single architecture unified by common data services. Built upon the CASL technology foundation and enhanced by InfoSight analytics, this integrated framework delivers a cohesive storage platform designed to support ongoing business expansion and maintain a competitive edge within the storage market.