Gridstore's VP of Sales, Chris Sterbenc, Named to SMB 150 List

Software Defined Storage Executive Voted One of the Top 150 Worldwide SMB Channel Influencers

Mountain View, CA (I-Newswire) March 20, 2013 - Gridstore™, the leader in software defined storage, today announced that Chris Sterbenc, vice president of sales for Gridstore, has been named to the SMB 150 list for the second straight year. The SMB 150 is a collaboration between SMB Nation and the SMB Technology Network, is the SMB technology channel's annual list of its most influential members.

The SMB 150 winners are considered the “best of the best” and have the high honor of being recognized by a peer-reviewed award panel as the most influential in the SMB technology channel profession. The award recognizes the top performing technology channel peers who are distinctive and accomplished. Selected via an open nomination and voting process, the winners reflect a wide-range of industry participation as consultants, MSPs, MVPs, VARs, resellers, partners and system integrators.

Gridstore’s software defined storage model virtualizes the storage stack and uses a grid-based architecture to scale capacity, I/O bandwidth and controller processing. By developing virtual controllers to each host, each virtual controller can optimize independently to absorb and offload the random I/O produced from man backup jobs.

On the capacity side, a storage grid is able to provide capacity per node at a price point that is ideal for the typical midrange virtualized data center without requiring a backplane network or 3-way replica for reliability. A grid provides the ability to ‘scale small’ initially and then to add nodes as capacity demands increase. Also, since these are modern era storage systems, they do not include features that VMware/Hyper-V or the VM backup applications already provide, obviating the need to pay for the same feature twice. In addition, Gridstore is rapidly becoming the preferred storage solution of SMB IT providers for their Veeam backup environments.

“I am very excited to have been named to the SMB 150 list again this year, having worked almost exclusively with IT resellers and MSP's that service SMB customers,” said Chris Stenbenc, vice president of sales, Gridstore. “These partners have made it clear to me that one of their top concerns is finding a cost-effective and reliable backup solution for their customers. The wave of virtualization that is sweeping the SMB landscape has only made this a bigger challenge for service providers. Fortunately, the unique marriage of Veeam's feature rich backup and instant restore capability, combined with Gridstore's high-performance and cost-effective scale out storage provides the solution they have been looking for.”

Sterbenc and the other SMB 150 influencers are invited to attend the SMB 150 Awards Gala on May 4, 2013, at the Microsoft Conference Center on Microsoft’s Campus in Redmond, WA. The event is hosted by SMB Nation and SMB Technology Network and sponsored by BlackBerry, Dell, and Lenovo.

News: @SMBNation announces @Gridstore’s VP of Sales, Chris Sterbenc to #SMB150 list - http://bit.ly/WTZMMj

Follow Gridstore on Twitter at http://twitter.com/gridstore

About SMB Nation

SMB Nation is a publishing and events company, targeted at the small and medium business (SMB) channel partner/reseller/consulting/VAR community. SMB Nation spreads the knowledge of SMB technology trends through its conferences, books, SMB PC magazine, online services, and world-wide seminars and workshops. As an active participant in the technology community, SMB Nation has a long history of enthusiastic advocacy and evangelism. The SMB Nation tribe exceeds 45,000 followers worldwide. Visit www.smbnation.com and www.telephonation.com for more information.

About SMBTN

The SMB Technology Network (SMBTN) has its roots in partner groups focused on IT solutions & services for the SMB (Small Medium Business) space. Currently, over 600 partners are registered or business members. Our focus includes Windows platforms including SBS (Small Business Server). Jim Locke formed the Los Angeles SMB User Group in 2004. He then united with additional groups across the country. Each group holds monthly meetings to discuss the latest small business trends. In addition, the group has partnered with Microsoft at Connections and TS2 events, further penetrating the SMB space. Successful partnerships with vendors such as MegaPath and SonicWALL have created value for members, enabling them to receive discounts normally only available to larger partners.

About Gridstore

Gridstore is the leading provider of software defined storage that turns simple storage building blocks into the world’s most powerful and affordable storage without limits. Gridstore brings the era of mainframe-style monolithic storage and its disruptive forklift upgrades to an end. The Grid allows businesses to start small and pay as they grow to any size while growing more powerful with each additional block. We eliminate the frustrations of planning and forecasting for the unknown. No more headaches, no more disruption to the business. Now you can effortlessly give your organization the powerful storage it demands. Gridstore is headquartered in Mountain View, Calif. For more information, please visit: http://www.gridstore.com.

Contact:
Sabrina Sanchez
The Ventana Group
Chantilly, VA
(925) 785-3014
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