No doubt that CDP has become an important market segment, described as “the future of backup”. With the growth and success of companies like InMage Systems and the significant acquisitions of Kashya by EMC and XOSoft by Computer Associates, we should expect to see much more traction in 2008 on CDP.
Yet success in the CDP market isn’t ubiquitous. The last few months I have heard reports that Mendocino Software, a provider of Continuous Data Protection (CDP) software for the enterprise computing market and which HP resells as its Continuous Information Capture Solution (CICS), was in real trouble. Now the latest reports I am hearing is that Mendocino Software, like its predecessor Revivio before it, is being scrapped, selling off its intellectual property and assets and laying off its staff, having failed to close a new round of funding.
To confirm or deny this report, I tried placing a call to Mendocino Software’s general office number (510-668-1600) today, Feb 8, 2008, at about 10:00 am PT but received no answer regardless of which extension I tried. Also, when I tried to reach an operator, the phone system just kept rolling over to the same individual. So far Mendocino has not returned my phone calls to confirm or deny this report.
However, based on the information I already have, I would attribute this rumor to having merit. Eric Burgener, Mendocino Software’s VP of Marketing, who I spoke with at SNW in Dallas last fall, recently left Mendocino Software and became a fellow storage analyst in the last few months. Also HP did not respond to any of my calls or requests for information while I was preparing a feature report that appeared on the October 2007 Storage magazine cover.
The big questions that will likely arise out of this situation if it turns out to be true is, “What will companies do who are already using HP CICS?” and “What new CDP offerings will HP come forward with?” Clearly HP has a limited list of solid players from which to choose from but one would think HP needs to make a decision quickly as CDP is now appearing on the shopping list of more CIOs.
As I have more information, I will post it on the www.dcig.com blog.