Gridstore, the leader in software defined storage  solutions, today announced that it has been recognized as one of "The 10 Coolest Startups of 2012" by CRN Magazine. As reported by CRN's Jack McCarthy on January 2, 2013, Gridstore ranked No. 6 on the list of what the article calls "groundbreaking" startups.

"Gridstore, a cloud-based storage startup, offers grid-based, scale-out storage with its flagship product, The Grid, featuring its own Virtual Controller Technology," writes McCarthy. "The Mountain View, Calif.-based company won $12.5 million in venture funding in October, led by GGV Capital and Onset Ventures, bringing total investment in the company to $15 million."

Gridstore Sets the Standard for Software Defined Storage

Businesses of all sizes see explosion of data growth. With this, the cost is also exploding and it becomes impossible to scale efficiently with legacy architectures. Gridstore addresses the influx of data that traditional monolithic architectures have not been able to solve. The company is first to market with an advanced grid-based, software-defined storage platform that scales as a business's data needs scale - no overprovisioning, no wasted capacity. The Grid revolutionizes the way users manage their storage and seamlessly integrates into an organization's existing environment. Gridstore delivers a simple, powerful and affordable storage solution that scales dynamically with customer needs. With its pay-as-you-go sales model, customers can seamlessly integrate the Grid into their environment without forklift upgrades or disruption to their business. It delivers unprecedented scalability, fault-tolerance, high performance and resource efficiencies that can't be matched by other solutions available to in the market today.

"The 10 Coolest Startups of 2012" were selected based on their ability to offer new ways to work more efficiently, cost-effectively and quickly in a world undergoing massive change due to the onset of cloud computing, big data, virtualization and analytics. CRN recognized these top 10 companies for their ability to respond to these changes with innovations that promise to change our lives.

"The recognition from CRN Magazine as one of ‘The 10 Coolest Startups of 2012' underscores our commitment to deliver powerful, affordable storage that scales as needed to meet business demands," said Kelly Murphy, CEO, Gridstore. "Monolithic storage systems architected three decades ago were not designed to meet the requirements of the software defined data center.

Gridstore breaks this antiquated model by delivering a simple, powerful and affordable storage solution that scales with our customers business requirements today and tomorrow."

• CRN Recognizes Gridstore as One of "The 10 Coolest Startups of 2012"