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iXsystems, Inc.
Company typePrivate
IndustryComputer hardware
PredecessorBSDi, Walnut Creek CD-ROM, Telenet Systems Solutions
FounderMichael Lauth, Matt Olander
Headquarters
San Jose, California
,
United States
Number of locations
2
Key people
Michael Lauth, Matt Olander, Brett Davis, Kris Moore,
ProductsTrueNAS, TrueOS, Servers
Websiteixsystems.com

iXsystems, Inc. is a privately owned American computer technology company based in San Jose, California that develops, sells and supports computing and storage products and services. Its principal products are customized open source FreeBSD distributions, including the discontinued desktop operating system TrueOS (formerly PC-BSD),[1] the FreeBSD based file servers and network attached storage systems TrueNAS Core (previously FreeNAS) and TrueNAS Enterprise, and the Linux based TrueNAS SCALE. It also markets hardware platforms for these products, and develops enterprise-scale storage architectures and converged infrastructures. As part of its activities, the company has strong ties to the FreeBSD community, has repeatedly donated hardware and support to fledgling projects within the BSD community,[2] and sponsors and develops development within FreeBSD, as well as being a sponsor and attendee of open-source community events.

History

iXsystems was founded in 1991 as Berkeley Software Design, Inc. (BSDI, later BSDi) by Rick Adams and members of the University of California, Berkeley Computer Systems Research Group (CSRG), including Keith Bostic, Kirk McKusick, Mike Karels, Bill Jolitz and Donn Seeley.[3] In the year 2000, Berkeley Software Design, Inc. acquired enterprise server manufacturer Telenet System Solutions, Inc.,[4][5] which was founded in 1996 and operated from the same San Jose, California office and manufacturing facility that iXsystems operates today. In 2001, BSDi sold its operating systems business to Wind River Systems and spun off its hardware business and iXtreme[6] line of servers as iXsystems, Inc.[7] In 2002, OffMyServer, Inc., owned by two BSDi employees, acquired iXsystems, Inc.[8] and operated it as OffMyServer, Inc. until restoring the iXsystems name in 2005.

In 2006, iXsystems adopted the PC-BSD[9] project and hired its founder, Kris Moore. In 2007, iXsystems acquired FreeBSD Mall, Inc., reuniting all the portions of the original BSDi that had been spun off to Wind River Systems. In 2009, iXsystems negotiated to continue the FreeNAS project when its developers decided to move it to Debian Linux. iXsystems introduced a comprehensive rewrite of FreeNAS in 2011 which now provides the platform for the "FreeNAS Mini" SMB NAS arrays and "TrueNAS" enterprise storage arrays. In August 2010, BSD author Dru Lavigne joined iXsystems and in July 2013, Jordan K. Hubbard,[10] one of the founders of the FreeBSD project,[11] joined iXsystems as CTO.[12]

Products and services

Servers

iXsystems designs, sells and supports custom x86 servers for workgroups through data centers with a focus on support for the FreeBSD operating system. All iXsystems servers are subjected to a three-day burn-in process to reduce returns and are available with Linux as an alternative operating system.

TrueNAS

Main articles: TrueNAS and Network attached storage

TrueNAS is the brand for ixSystems' open source network attached storage platform. It includes:

  • TrueNAS CORE (previously FreeNAS) - a free file server and expandable platform based on FreeBSD
  • TrueNAS Enterprise - an enterprise file server for commercial use, also based on FreeBSD
  • TrueNAS SCALE - a Linux based hyperconverged version of the TrueNAS platform.
  • TrueNAS branded hardware - enterprise storage arrays, a network-attached storage (NAS) systems, storage area network (SAN) devices, and High Availability systems, with up to 10 petabytes raw capacity.

The FreeNAS project was originally launched by third party developers in October 2005 and aimed to create an open source network attached storage system based on FreeBSD 6.0. In September 2009, the development team concluded that the project, then at release 0.7, required a complete rewrite to accommodate modern features such as a plug-in architecture, and the project gradually forked, with a new version based on Debian Linux, and the existing version being transferred to iXsystems,[13][14] who rewrote it with a new architecture based on FreeBSD 8.1, releasing FreeNAS 8 Beta in November 2010.[15]

On November 19, 2010, iXsystems released FreeNAS 8 Beta, its first release of the popular free and open-source software-defined storage project that it adopted and rewrote. FreeNAS is based on the FreeBSD operating system and the OpenZFS file system.

On August 3, 2011, iXsystems introduced the TrueNAS[16] line of enterprise storage arrays, a network-attached storage (NAS) system and storage area network (SAN) device that supports the SMB, AFP, NFS, iSCSI, SSH, rsync and FTP/TFTP sharing protocols over Ethernet and Fibre Channel network fabrics. TrueNAS also supports vendor-certified protocols including VMware VAAI, Microsoft CSV, ODX, and VSS, and Veeam. A custom, tool-less enclosure provides TrueNAS High Availability using dual controllers, and four user-serviceable components: disks, power supplies, fans and the controllers themselves. TrueNAS uses the OpenZFS file system in hybrid and all-flash configurations up to 10 petabytes in raw capacity.

On March 15, 2020, iXsystems announced the merging of FreeNAS and TrueNAS into a unified product with two editions.[17] TrueNAS CORE would be the rebranded continuation of FreeNAS, as a free, open-source option, and TrueNAS Enterprise would continue as a paid, closed-source option with additional enterprise-focused features.[18] Additionally a Linux port of TrueNAS was under development, to be known as TrueNAS SCALE.

FreeNAS Certified

The iXsystems FreeNAS Certified[19] line of small and medium-sized enterprise storage arrays are designed to run the FreeNAS storage operating system and are available in 1U, 2U and 4U configurations.

TrueNAS Mini and Mini XL

The iXsystems TrueNAS Mini[20] line of SOHO storage arrays are designed to run the TrueNAS storage operating system and are available in 4 bay and 8 bay configurations.

References

  1. ^ Mayank Sharma (13 October 2006). "Why iXsystems bought PC-BSD". linux.com. Retrieved 1 April 2010.
  2. ^ "History". iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers.
  3. ^ Dr. Peter Salus (2005). "The Daemon, the GNU and the Penguin - Ch. 16, by Dr. Peter Salus". Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  4. ^ "BSDI Acquires Telenet System Solutions - Slashdot". bsd.slashdot.org. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  5. ^ Scott, Joseph. "So What Is BSDi Up To? - O'Reilly Media". www.onlamp.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  6. ^ "IXTREME Trademark - Serial Number 76136753 :: Justia Trademarks". trademarks.justia.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  7. ^ "Wind River to Acquire BSDi Software Assets, Extending Development Platforms to Include Robust UNIX-based Operating Systems for Embedded Devices". www.windriver.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  8. ^ "OffMyServer purchases iXsystems (formerly BSDi) Server Business!". iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers. 28 August 2002. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  9. ^ Lavigne, Dru. "Why iXsystems Bought PC-BSD - O'Reilly Media". www.onlamp.com. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  10. ^ "Apple's Operating System Guru Goes Back to His Roots". WIRED. Retrieved 2 May 2016.
  11. ^ "About the FreeBSD Project". Retrieved 16 April 2014.
  12. ^ Apple's Jordan Hubbard Joins iXsystems. Prweb.com. Retrieved on 16 April 2014.
  13. ^ "Project of the Month, January 2007". SourceForge. Archived from the original on 13 March 2008. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  14. ^ "Interview with Olivier Cochard-Labbé, Founder of FreeNAS". BSD Magazine. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  15. ^ "FreeNAS 8 Beta released". Warner Losh. Retrieved 23 August 2013.
  16. ^ "TrueNAS Open Storage | ZFS for the Home to the Data Center". TrueNAS Open Storage | ZFS for the Home to the Data Center.
  17. ^ "FreeNAS and TrueNAS are Unifying". iXsystems. 15 March 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  18. ^ "TrueNAS CORE is the new FreeNAS". iXsystems. 15 April 2020. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  19. ^ "FreeNAS Certified Servers". iXsystems, Inc. - Enterprise Storage & Servers.
  20. ^ "TrueNAS Mini". TrueNAS Open Storage | ZFS for the Home to the Data Center.
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