GridIron Systems

About GridIron Systems

GridIron Systems was a venture-backed hardware and software company established in 2007 by Som Sikdar, Bruce Fram, and Herb Schneider. The firm was headquartered in Sunnyvale, California, and focused on developing solutions to alleviate performance bottlenecks within data center storage infrastructures.

The company's core mission was to accelerate data-driven applications for enterprises and service providers. To achieve this, GridIron developed patented algorithms for SAN-based caching that non-intrusively learned I/O access patterns to cache an application's active dataset, thereby speeding up performance. Its product line, the OneAppliance™ Family, was engineered to accelerate Big Data analytics by matching the unique workloads of structured, unstructured, or mixed data processing to Multi-Level Cell (MLC) Flash for optimal performance.

GridIron's main offering was a plug-and-play SAN application accelerator appliance, the TurboCharger, designed to boost application performance by providing faster, RAM-like access speeds to data sets. The business model centered on selling these hardware and software solutions to enterprises seeking to enhance the response times of their critical applications. The value proposition included significant reductions in footprint and power consumption, along with the ability to share the appliance across multiple applications for a more compelling return on investment.

After raising approximately $30 million in venture capital from investors including Mohr Davidow Ventures, Trinity Ventures, and Foundation Capital, GridIron Systems was acquired by Violin Memory in a deal that closed in late 2012 and was announced in January 2013. The acquisition was a strategic move for Violin Memory to integrate GridIron's application acceleration and caching technologies into its portfolio of flash memory array solutions. Following the acquisition, GridIron's business and engineering units were integrated into Violin Memory.