Dr. Geoff , Data Robotics, Inc.1

Mountain View - CA United States

The big idea: In 25 words or less, please tell us how this Fast 50 Nominee is helping to address the planet's problems.

Data Robotics has revolutionized the storage industry by displacing decades old RAID technology with a superior alternative appropriate anywhere from the home to the enterprise.

Please describe how this nominee is using business as a force of positive change. What technology, idea, or strategy is the nominee using -- and what problem, such as global warming, poverty, or pollution, does it address? (suggested length: 100 words)

The digital universe is expanding—by 2011 it will be 10 times the size it was in 2006. Much of this growth is attributable to small businesses and consumers who’s storage needs now look more and more like those of large enterprises just a couple of years ago. This means reliability is no longer an option. Digital data is now mission-critical. From the casual consumer recording a video of their son’s first steps to the family doctor who is taking digital x-rays of a broken bone, today more than ever, we depend on digital storage. Unfortunately, small businesses and consumers traditionally have had to choose between two poor alternatives to manage and protect large collections of data like photos, videos, and business files: either do nothing and put data at risk to an inevitable hard drive crash or use notoriously complex RAID technology which was designed for large enterprises.

Dr. Geoff Barrall started Data Robotics, Inc. specifically to address this problem. Geoff’s unique blend of entrepreneurial experience, having founded storage companies in both the enterprise and small businesses markets, enabled him to solve decades old issues with an entirely novel approach. Why not apply the high-technology of enterprise storage into a consumer-level device that removes all of the complexity while retaining the superior feature set—much like Jobs and Wozniak had done in the operating system market decades earlier with their graphical user interface? The storage market was in desperate need of just such a radical disruption.

Much like the command line interfaces of yesterday’s operating systems, RAID is a competent but complex technology that serves enterprise needs well, but was not designed with the today’s small businesses or consumers in mind. For instance, its rigid structure does not allow simple capacity expansion—a major problem in the age of high-definition video and vast email archives when data is growing at a compound annual growth rate of nearly 60%! Much like those mainframe computers of decades past, RAID requires a level of technical expertise most of us do not want to be forced into learning. The technology behind Drobo was designed from the ground up for today’s digital world. Drobo provides thorough data protection and nearly infinite expandability yet is easy enough to use right of the box without any training. If you’ve ever dared to operate an inkjet printer, you’re more than guaranteed success with Drobo.

Drobo was launched in June of 2007 and has gained wide acceptance in a large number of end-user markets and applications including professional photography, home media consumers, higher education, K-12, video surveillance, healthcare, and legal, amongst others.

What are the results, both financial and social? How has the nominee's business performed, and what impact has it had on the problem it addresses? (suggested length: 100 words)

It is hard to come up with a financial metric that does justice to having saved a wedding photo album or five year’s of QuickBooks data from certain disaster from a hard drive crash. However, one comment that Data Robotics hears from its customers time and time again that sums it all up is “I sleep soundly at night now that I own a Drobo. I know my data is safe.”

Drobo has been a phenomenally successful product gaining over 14,000 customers in less than 10 months with a sustained quarter-on-quarter growth rate of nearly 100%. It has received positive reviews and Editor’s Choice awards from a host of publications, including CNET, PC Magazine, Macworld, USA Today, The Chicago Sun-Times, Gartner, and Engadget.com amongst others. It has quickly become one of the top-selling storage products in its class, propelling Data Robotics to become one of the fastest growing startups in Silicon Valley. The Company is expanding and hiring quickly—having recently been awarded the keys to the City of Mountain View, California.

Data Robotics is backed by top-tier venture capital firms including Greylock Partners, RRE Ventures, and Sutter Hill Ventures.

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