Xyratex Acquires ClusterStor, Lustre File System Expertise

HAVANT, England, Nov. 9, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Xyratex Ltd (Nasdaq: XRTX), a leading global provider of enterprise-class data storage subsystems and storage process technology to OEMs, today announced that Peter Braam and Peter Bojanic have joined Xyratex to help lead the company's Lustre initiative.

Xyratex has reunited the core architectural and development team of Lustre through the acquisition of ClusterStor and the hiring of Peter Bojanic. This ensures that Lustre continues to be the foundation of High Performance Computing (HPC) data storage.  Peter Braam, working closely with the United States Department of Energy's Lustre community, invented the Lustre file system in the early 2000's at his original company, Cluster File Systems (CFS), which was acquired by Sun Microsystems in 2007. Most recently Peter was the CEO of ClusterStor, a startup he formed to further develop and support file system technology. Xyratex acquired the assets of ClusterStor earlier this year and has been continuing to add world class development talent in order to further enhance the capabilities of Lustre and support the Lustre community. Peter Bojanic joined Xyratex to lead the Lustre development and support team. Bojanic most recently led the Lustre development and support group at Oracle.

"Lustre is recognized as a leading high performance clustered file system in High Performance Computing with over 60% share of the Top 100 systems in the Top 500," said Earl Joseph, Research Analyst at IDC. "Peter Braam and Peter Bojanic are recognized as key leaders of the Lustre community and by reuniting them, there's no question that this is a very positive move for the broader HPC community and that it will help to ensure that Lustre will continue to be a key element of HPC data storage environments."

"I'm excited about joining Xyratex because it will enable me to continue the vision of Lustre," said Peter Braam, SVP of Software at Xyratex. "Xyratex is committed to working with all the stakeholders in the Lustre open source community in order to continue the development and support of Lustre. With both the financial and technical resources available through Xyratex, we'll be able to ensure that Lustre continues to evolve in High Performance Computing."   

"Peter Braam and his team have provided us with invaluable guidance and support," said Paul Calleja, Director of High Performance Computing at Cambridge University. "Lustre is the cornerstone of our High Performance Centre here at Cambridge and we rely on it to support our demanding I/O requirements. We have made a significant investment in Lustre and are delighted to see companies such as Xyratex continue with both support and roadmap enhancements."

"Xyratex is an OEM focused company with the clear goal of enabling our OEM partners to leverage Lustre in their development of next generation High Performance Computing technologies," said Steve Barber, CEO of Xyratex. "We're very excited to have the ClusterStor team join Xyratex and are looking forward to working with our OEM partners and the broader Lustre community on enhancing the Lustre file system."

About Xyratex

Xyratex is a leading provider of enterprise-class data storage subsystems and storage process technology. The company designs and manufactures enabling technology that provides OEM and disk drive manufacturers with data storage products to support high-performance storage and data communication networks. Xyratex has over 25 years of experience in research and development relating to disk drives, storage systems, and high-speed communication protocols.

Founded in 1994 in a management buy-out from IBM, and with headquarters in the UK, Xyratex has an established global base with R&D and operational facilities in Europe, the United States, and Southeast Asia.

SOURCE Xyratex Ltd