Nexsan®, the pioneer of highly reliable, cost-effective enterprise-class storage solutions, and Vates, a pioneering company in open-source virtualization solutions, today introduced a joint foundation for secure, seamless, high-performance virtualized workloads combining Vates Virtualization Management Stack (VMS) and Nexsan Unity™ enterprise-class unified storage.

As organizations look for better alternatives to costly, closed virtualization ecosystems, Nexsan and Vates deliver a modern, scalable, and cost-effective infrastructure with Vates’ open-source hypervisor built on Xen architecture plus Nexsan’s on-premise storage for file, block, and/or S3 object storage, with comprehensive data protection. The joint solution offers flexibility, reliability, and long-term sustainability without complex licensing or proprietary platforms.

Vates VMS combines XCP-ng, a secure, Linux-based virtualization platform, and Xen Orchestra (XOA), its complete management and backup interface, for full enterprise-grade virtualization capabilities including live migration, high availability, snapshots, and centralized management. Unity’s RAID-protected, high-throughput architecture, large cache memory, Fast-Tier acceleration, and multi-threaded I/O paths make the most of XCP-ng’s efficiency and serves even the most performance-intensive workloads. Integration and setup is frictionless because both platforms are Linux-friendly, standards-based, and API-driven, requiring no vendor-specific drivers or middleware.

Key features include:

• Low-latency VM performance delivers consistent throughput for mixed workloads (VMs, databases, file servers, or backup targets)
• Multipathing support to ensure balanced traffic across multiple network interfaces for maximum resilience and speed
• Browser-based management consoles in XOA for virtualization and Unity Management GUI for storage give clear visibility from VM-level to infrastructure
• Supports all standard protocols with full functional compatibility validated across iSCSI, NFS, and Fibre Channel configurations with no custom plug-ins or complex configuration steps
• No vendor-specific drivers or middleware required; attach Unity LUNs or shares directly to VMs or clusters using standard storage protocols
• Shared architecture for VMs, backups, and cloud applications to reduce management overhead and storage sprawl
• Enterprise-grade security through Unity’s built-in immutable snapshots that protect VM data from ransomware, cyberattack, or human interference
• High availability/disaster recovery through native asynchronous replication to off-site storage resources, ideal for multi-site XCP-ng deployments
• Optimize for performance and/or cost by tiering SSD to HDD or full NVME, thin provisioning, compression to maximize capacity, high-density chassis for industry-leading PB per rack

“As virtualization and storage evolve beyond proprietary ecosystems, Vates VMS and Nexsan Unity represent a practical, future-proof platform for modern IT environments,” said Olivier Lambert, Vates CEO. “Together, they provide the performance, resilience, and openness needed to power today’s virtual workloads, from the data centre to the edge.”

“If the goal is freedom from VM vendor lock-in with complex license models, validated enterprise-class reliability and interoperability, operational simplicity, data security and continuous availability, flexible scalability to multipetabyte-scale, and affordable entry cost plus long-term ROI, this joint solution should be on the shortlist,” said Vincent Phillips, CEO of Nexsan.

Nexsan Unity is a multi-protocol storage platform providing block, file, and object access (FC, iSCSI, NFS, SMB, S3) from a single, unified system. With intelligent tiering, snapshots, replication, and immutable data protection, Unity supports the entire VM lifecycle — from active workloads to long-term retention. Unity enterprise-class storage systems are available through Nexsan’s channel of industry-leading solution providers. To consult a Nexsan specialist visit https://www.nexsan.com/consult-an-expert/.

About Vates

Founded in 2012 in Grenoble, VATES is a French company specializing in open-source virtualization and infrastructure management solutions for hybrid cloud environments. Its flagship products, XCP-ng and Xen Orchestra, help public and private organizations worldwide gain autonomy and sustainably optimize their IT environments. Fully open source and developed in France, these solutions offer universal compatibility, easy integration, and meet the needs of critical environments. They enable users to maintain technological independence while benefiting from top-tier professional support. With over 10 years of expertise, a proven track record of profitability, and the trust of more than 1,000 customers worldwide, VATES helps position France as a key player in virtualization. Key facts:

• Founded: 2012
• HQ: Grenoble, France
• Downloads: 2M+
• Employees: 60
• 2024 revenue: €4 Million

Website: https://vates.tech/

About Nexsan®

Nexsan® is a global leader in enabling customers to securely store, protect, and manage data. Established in 1999, Nexsan has earned a reputation for delivering the most highly reliable, secure, and cost-effective storage while always remaining agile to continuously deliver purpose-built storage and data management solutions that meet complex and ever-changing IT, business, and budgetary requirements. Nexsan’s patented technology is ideal for a variety of use cases including backup and recovery, content delivery and streaming, scientific lab data, virtualization, evidentiary data, digital video surveillance, regulatory compliance, and healthcare records. For further information, please visit www.nexsan.com.

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