Not Another Storage Company
T.M. Ravi has been launching, building and selling storage companies for more than a decade. But the CA and Cheyenne Software veteran didn’t want to launch “yet another storage company” into a largely saturated market in 2003. Instead, he aimed his latest venture–Mimosa Systems–at email archiving, discovery and compliance.
Full disclosure: The VAR Guy briefly worked with Ravi at Cheyenne in 1996. If this piece appears overly bullish about Mimosa, you can flame The VAR Guy at the email address below.
Anecdotal evidence suggests Mimosa is gaining traction. Nearly 100 customers (including PG&E and Sears) embraced the company’s software during its first year of availability. Mimosa has lined up about 50 VARs and integrators, with about 15 of them “heavily engaged” with the company, according to Ravi.
Mimosa’s software manages content — particularly Exchange email — across “a history of time,” says Ravi, helping customers to ensure corporate compliance. Next up, Mimosa in Q2 will strive to manage/archive documents sitting on servers and desktops. And by Q3, Mimosa plans to manage Microsoft SharePoint content.
VARs seeking to become managed service providers should keep their eyes on Mimosa. The company in late 2007 intends to introduce a new option that lets partners administer managed archiving services.
Sounds promising, but Mimosa faces some big competitors–including Symantec. Ravi counters that Symantec is trying to manage legacy software rolled up from numerous acquisitions. He also notes that Mimosa’s development team “chases the Sun” around the clock, moving new code between offices in Silicon Valley and India.
Come to think of it, Ravi never rested much when The VAR Guy worked with him at Cheyenne.