Infinio
Lightning Fast I/O for any Storage

With VMware, the de facto standard for modern datacenters, enterprises are putting significant investment into ensuring that their storage performance keeps up with the application requirements. Investments in all-flash arrays are promising, but they come with huge CapEx; introduction of SSDs or NVMe can require reconfiguring existing infrastructure. Infinio is a game changer in this space, offering a software-based server-side cache to deliver lightning-fast I/O to any storage environment.

Able to accelerate both legacy and modern storage systems, Infinio delivers storage performance without disrupting existing infrastructure, and at the one-tenth cost of existing solutions. Infinio builds a server-side cache using ESX host RAM, able to be expanded with SSD. While downtime is a frustrating reality of many enterprise software installations, Infinio performs a non-disruptive installation in just 15 minutes without requiring any reboots or even VMware’s maintenance mode. Organizations can use Infinio and achieve lightning fast performance immediately after installation—irrespective of whether they have all-flash arrays in place or not.

Developed on VMware’s APIs for Storage I/O (“VAIO”) framework, Infinio works closely with VMware. Their VMware Ready certification represents VMware’s highest level of endorsement for third party software, and requires Infinio to get its source code tested in VMware labs— eliminating support-related concerns for their clients. With existing storage processes like backups, snapshots, thin provisioning, and replication working seamlessly with no changes to storage configuration, Infinio's transparency with existing VMware and storage infrastructures comes tested and proven.

Infinio customers realize several advantages: faster batch-processing speed for applications like business intelligence reporting; boosted performance for interactive applications, especially in virtual desktops; and significant reduction in storage CapEx. “We’re thrilled by the results our customers have seen,” says Sheryl Koenigsberg, Vice President of Marketing, “When our software takes a data analytics process from hours to minutes, or an indexing task from minutes to seconds, we know we’re really impacting someone’s business results.”

Deployed as a VIB across the VMware ESXi cluster, Infinio is equally applicable to virtual server workloads and virtual desktops.

When our software takes a data analytics process from hours to minutes, or an indexing task from minutes to seconds, we know we’re really impacting someone’s business results

All storage platforms are supported, including SAN, NAS, DAS, hyper-converged, and technologies from VMware like vSAN and VVols. The solution offers an interactive UI that enables users to select VMs for performance acceleration easily. Users can also make these configuration changes through vCenter, using VMware’s Storage Policy- Based Management.

The nondisruptive installation and transparent operations enable Infinio to deliver an innovative trial model for their clients. Starting with as little as 8 GB of RAM, architects can try Infinio in their environments for up to 30 days before they make the purchase decision. All of Infinio’s features, including tiered caching with RAM and SSDs, are available during a trial. At the conclusion, Infinio has a smooth and non-disruptive uninstallation process as well.

These innovative features have helped Infinio garner multiple clients across industries. One of them, a hotel and casino in Las Vegas, was running all-flash storage from a leading hyper-converged infrastructure vendor. After installing Infinio, they saw Tableau and SAS business intelligence jobs complete significantly sooner, and saw the running time for Jira jobs drop from over two hours to 15 minutes; there were also dramatic improvements in SQL performance. These results led to a massive deployment of Infinio across many hosts.

On the heels of another record quarter, Infinio continues its development, aligning with both VMware’s latest updates like ESX 6.5, and the industry’s latest technologies like 3D XPoint. The company’s short-term roadmap also includes additional features by the end of 2017 that will help clients better understand the impact of cache on their various workloads, and how to size the cache correctly.