Monday, February 11, 2008

Data virtualizer xkoto moves from Canada to Waltham

By Efrain Viscarolasaga

Armed with a new chief executive and funding landed in late 2007, Canadian database virtualization software maker xkoto Inc. officially joins the New England technology community this week with the opening of its new corporate headquarters in Waltham.

The new Waltham office will serve as home to the company's executive team, as well as world headquarters for its sales, marketing, finance, and operations units. Engineering and customer service are expected to remain in the Toronto area.

xkoto CEO David Patrick, a former general manager of Waltham's Novell Inc., said each location is on a hiring track as part of a growth plan that includes nearly doubling the company's total staff from 30 employees now to approximately 50 by December 2008.

The growth is being driven by the company's recent $7.5 million second round of funding led by Newton's GrandBanks Capital, along with a growing demand for xkoto's database virtualization product, GridScale. For instance, Patrick said the company has closed a number of new customers including European media conglomerate Mood Media Group, Canada-based financial software maker Hart Software Inc. and North Dakota's FBS Data Systems Inc.

xkoto's product allows the same principles that have permeated storage and application virtualization -- the replication of large amounts of data for use in other locations without new hardware and infrastructure -- to be applied to database information. Where traditional systems, such as those by big players like IBM, Sun Microsystems Inc. and Hewlett-Packard Development Co., copy one database (the "active") many times ("passive" copies), xkoto's product aims to make numerous active copies.

It's a unique approach, according to Dan Kusnetzky, principal analyst and president of IT infrastructure analyst firm Kusnetzky Group LLC in Florida.