WHIPTAIL, part of Cisco
WHIPTAIL, part of Cisco is a company.
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Key people at WHIPTAIL, part of Cisco.
WHIPTAIL, part of Cisco is a company.
Key people at WHIPTAIL, part of Cisco.
WHIPTAIL, part of Cisco, is a company that developed high-performance, scalable solid-state memory storage systems designed to accelerate data center and virtualized environments. It primarily served enterprise customers needing faster data processing and simplified data center infrastructure by integrating NAND flash memory as a replacement for traditional hard drives. After its acquisition by Cisco in 2013, WHIPTAIL’s technology was integrated into Cisco’s Unified Computing System (UCS) to enhance application performance by embedding scalable solid-state memory directly into the compute fabric, enabling faster data access and reducing data center footprint[1][2][4].
Founded in 2009 by Edward T. Rebholz and James Candelaria, WHIPTAIL emerged from the need to address increasing performance demands from new applications like virtual desktops and data analytics that traditional storage arrays struggled to support. Early traction included partnerships with major players such as Cisco, Citrix, SanDisk, and VMware, and its products achieved certifications like Citrix Ready and VMware Ready. The company’s innovative use of NAND flash memory in large-scale storage systems attracted significant investment and ultimately led to Cisco acquiring WHIPTAIL for approximately $415 million in 2013 to bolster its UCS platform[2][4].
WHIPTAIL rode the trend of increasing demand for high-performance, low-latency storage solutions driven by virtualization, cloud computing, and big data analytics. The timing of its acquisition by Cisco aligned with the growing need for converged infrastructure that tightly integrates compute, networking, and storage to optimize data center efficiency and performance. By embedding solid-state memory directly into the UCS platform, Cisco aimed to differentiate its offering in the competitive converged infrastructure market and address the limitations of traditional storage arrays in handling modern workloads[1][3].
While WHIPTAIL’s technology initially enhanced Cisco’s UCS strategy, Cisco announced the end-of-life for WHIPTAIL’s Invicta and Accela products by 2015, indicating a strategic shift or integration of the technology into broader Cisco offerings rather than standalone products. Moving forward, the influence of WHIPTAIL’s innovations persists in how Cisco and the industry approach storage acceleration within converged and hyper-converged infrastructures. Future trends shaping this space include continued demand for scalable persistent memory, tighter hardware-software integration, and solutions optimized for cloud-native and data-intensive applications[5].
In summary, WHIPTAIL was a pioneering solid-state storage company whose acquisition by Cisco marked a significant step in evolving data center architectures toward integrated, high-performance computing and storage solutions.
Key people at WHIPTAIL, part of Cisco.
