Software-defined storage vendor Fusion-io has acquired open-source shared storage systems and software defined storage company ID7, and the developers and key contributors of SCST, a Linux storage software subsystem utilized by many storage vendors throughout the world.

ID7 has been collaborating with Fusion-io on software development for the ION Data Accelerator software that Fusion-io said has been developed to transform industry standard servers into shared storage appliances.

“Software-defined storage platforms are key to delivering peak performance and efficiency in today’s data centers,” Fusion-io CEO and chairman David Flynn said.

“ID7 has provided valuable contributions to the industry, making us excited to welcome them to our ION Data Accelerator team as we continue to grow our business with the expertise of many of the world’s most innovative engineers.”
Established in 2006, ID7 is a UK-based storage technology company specializing in the development of storage software solutions across all types of interfaces including iSCSI, Fibre Channel and InfiniBand.

A pioneer of advancements in emerging storage technologies, the ID7 engineering team is the primary developer of the SCST storage subsystem.

SCST is a SCSI target subsystem for Linux operating systems that enables advanced functionality, including replication, thin provisioning, deduplication, high availability, and automatic backup on any Linux server or appliance.

The SCST core provides a unified, consistent interface between SCSI target drivers, the Linux kernel and storage system by connecting target drivers with a physical or emulated storage backend.

The SCST subsystem supports data exchange via SCSI, including iSCSI, Fibre Channel, FCoE, SAS, InfiniBand (SRP), and Wide (parallel) SCSI. The very low overhead of the SCST subsystem delivers maximum performance and scalability in software defined storage architectures.

SCST SCSI Target Subsystem for Linux founder Vlad Bolkhovitin said by joining Fusion-io, the group will have access to more engineering resources and talent to support the development of the open source and commercial SCST subsystems.

The ID7 team, including the primary SCST developers, will join Fusion-io as a result of the acquisition. The teams will continue to collaborate with Fusion-io engineering from their current locations across Europe and the US.