Pillar Data Systems

Pillar Data Systems was a United States computer-storage company headquartered in San Jose, California. It developed and sold midrange and enterprise network-storage systems to organizational customers, with particular activity in financial services, healthcare, government, and legal services. The company’s principal product was the Pillar Axiom platform, which combined storage-area-network and network-attached-storage capabilities within a single managed system. The business originated in July 2001 under the name Digital Appliance Storage Systems Israel. It was established with backing from Tako Ventures, the venture investment arm associated with Larry Ellison, Oracle’s founder and chief executive. Mike Workman, an alumnus of the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University, founded the company and subsequently served as its chief executive and chairman. By 2005, the company had obtained more than $150 million in financing, indicating substantial investor support during the period when enterprise storage was becoming an increasingly important infrastructure category. Pillar’s central proposition was to simplify the administration of heterogeneous storage environments. Axiom could support iSCSI and Fibre Channel storage-area-network configurations as well as NFS network-attached storage. The platform also provided management of tiered storage, allowing different classes of data to be handled on storage resources with different performance or cost characteristics. Pillar marketed related capabilities for environments built around Microsoft Exchange Server, Oracle Database, Oracle VM, and VMware virtualization software. The company operated in a competitive midrange-storage market. Its named competitors included EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, NetApp, 3PAR, Isilon, Coraid, BlueArc, and Compellent Technologies. Pillar also developed relationships with Symantec, FalconStor, and Data Domain in areas connected with data deduplication, and maintained partnerships with Oracle and VMware. According to the referenced company description, Pillar employed approximately 325 people and sold its systems to institutional and enterprise customers rather than to consumers. Oracle announced on June 29, 2011, that it would acquire Pillar Data Systems. The transaction had an unusual financial structure: reporting described it as requiring no upfront payment because Pillar owed approximately $544 million to Ellison and related affiliates. The acquisition became effective on July 18, 2011. Following the transaction, Pillar ceased to operate as an independent company, and its independent brand identity and corporate status should be understood in the context of Oracle’s ownership rather than as those of a continuing standalone storage vendor.

Pillar Data Systems was created in July 2001 as Digital Appliance Storage Systems Israel. The company was funded by Tako Ventures, LLC, an investment vehicle associated with Larry Ellison, the founder and chief executive of Oracle Corporation. Its formation placed it within the emerging enterprise-storage sector, where organizations were seeking scalable systems capable of handling growing volumes of structured and unstructured data across networked infrastructure. Mike Workman founded the company and later held the positions of chief executive officer and chairman. Workman had studied at the University of California, Berkeley, and Stanford University. During its independent development, Pillar raised more than $150 million in financing by 2005 and expanded its activities in the midrange and enterprise storage market. The company ultimately employed approximately 325 people and focused on organizational customers in financial services, healthcare, government, and legal services. Pillar’s main technology was the Axiom platform. Axiom integrated storage-area-network and network-attached-storage functions and allowed customers to administer tiered storage through one platform. It supported iSCSI SAN, Fibre Channel SAN, and NFS NAS configurations, giving customers options across commonly used storage architectures. Pillar also promoted configurations and integrations for Microsoft Exchange Server, Oracle Database, Oracle VM, and VMware environments. These capabilities reflected the company’s focus on storage as part of a broader enterprise infrastructure rather than as an isolated hardware product. The company competed against established and specialist vendors including EMC, Hitachi Data Systems, NetApp, 3PAR, Isilon, Coraid, BlueArc, and Compellent Technologies. It also maintained partnerships with Symantec, FalconStor, and Data Domain relating to data deduplication, as well as relationships with Oracle and VMware. Such partnerships connected Pillar’s systems with software, virtualization, and data-management ecosystems that were important to enterprise buyers. Oracle announced the acquisition of Pillar Data Systems on June 29, 2011. The transaction was notable because it reportedly required no upfront payment: Pillar owed $544 million to Ellison and affiliated parties. Press coverage also noted that Workman did not appear at the announcement event. The acquisition became effective on July 18, 2011. After the transaction, Pillar no longer operated as an independent company, making the acquisition the decisive final stage of its corporate history.

• 2011

  Oracle announces acquisition

  [1]Pillar Data Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  Oracle announced on June 29 that it would acquire Pillar Data Systems.

• 2011

  Acquisition becomes effective

  [1]Pillar Data Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  Oracle’s acquisition of Pillar Data Systems took effect on July 18, ending Pillar’s independent corporate operation.

• 2005

  Financing exceeds $150 million

  [1]Pillar Data Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  By 2005, the company had raised more than $150 million in financing during its independent development.

• 2001

  Company established

  [1]Pillar Data Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  Pillar Data Systems was created in July 2001 under the earlier name Digital Appliance Storage Systems Israel, with financing associated with Tako Ventures.

Pillar positioned itself as an enterprise and midrange storage specialist offering unified management across SAN and NAS environments, with support for multiple storage protocols, tiered storage, database workloads, messaging systems, and virtualization platforms.

• Unified enterprise storage platform

  Pillar Axiom

  Axiom was Pillar Data Systems’ primary storage platform. It combined storage-area-network and network-attached-storage functions and supported iSCSI SAN, Fibre Channel SAN, and NFS NAS configurations. The platform provided centralized management for tiered storage and was marketed for enterprise workloads involving Microsoft Exchange Server, Oracle Database, Oracle VM, and VMware. Its design was intended to give institutional customers a single operating and management framework across different storage types and application environments.

• 2011

  Oracle acquisition of Pillar Data SystemsM&A

  Background

  Pillar operated in a competitive enterprise-storage market while receiving financial backing associated with Larry Ellison. Oracle announced that it would acquire the company in June 2011.

  Action taken

  Oracle agreed to acquire Pillar Data Systems. The reported transaction involved no upfront payment because Pillar owed approximately $544 million to Ellison and affiliated entities.

  Aftermath

  The acquisition became effective on July 18, 2011, and Pillar ceased to operate as an independent company.

  Reported debt owed by Pillar to Larry Ellison and affiliated entities. $544 million (At the time of the 2011 acquisition announcement)

  Source

• 2011

  Oracle announces agreement to acquire Pillar Data Systems[1]Pillar Data Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  M&A

  Oracle announced on June 29, 2011, that it would acquire Pillar Data Systems. Reports described the deal as involving no upfront payment because Pillar owed approximately $544 million to Larry Ellison and affiliated entities.

• 2011

  Oracle completes acquisition of Pillar Data Systems[1]Pillar Data Systemsen.wikipedia.org

  M&A · Other

  The acquisition of Pillar Data Systems by Oracle took effect on July 18, 2011, ending Pillar’s status as an independent storage company.

1. 1Pillar Data Systemsen.wikipedia.org