April 5,
2022
World’s First NVMe-oF RAID Card Now Part of StarWind Backup Appliance
1
Value proposition
Software

StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator for Windows

StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator for Windows is the only solution that offers performance-demanding Windows applications NVMe-oF connectivity over TCP and RoCE v2 networks. We make NVMe-oF available for SQL and M&E workloads on Windows today with our 100% software NVMe-oF initiator that installs on any Windows host without the need to deploy FC infrastructure, add proprietary rNICs to every host, or wait years for a native OS functionality to appear and mature. Being Windows-certified and tested for compatibility with all the major NVMe-oF storage vendors, StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator for Windows ensures customers get not only the best performance and lowest latency for their mission-critical applications, but also end-to-end enterprise support from the storage, initiator, and OS vendor.

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StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator is also available as an OEM component for your own solution.
Speed up your time to market, deliver better customer lifetime value, and gain competitive edge. We're here to help!
Our dedicated OEM team will help you design a solution that exceeds your expectations.

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Certifications
StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator is certified with Windows
Server 2019 and Windows 10
StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator for Windows is now included in the UNH IOL Interoperability matrix tests as a default Microsoft Windows and Windows Server NVMe-oF connectivity test for NVMe-oF storage products.
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2
Benefits

Efficiency

Compared to legacy FC and iSCSI, NVMe-oF offers a much lower CPU cost on the IOPS delivered to the applications, which means less of the application server CPU is wasted on storage processing and more of it available to your applications.

Performance

NVMe over Fabrics delivers 100% of the underlying storage performance and close to 100% of the original NVMe latency. Moreover, it offers unrivaled parallelism that enables this performance to all of the applications working with the storage.

Cost Savings

More efficient CPU usage unlocks the ability to scale down the CPUs in the application servers and save on the core-bound OS licensing. The ability to use existing TCP or RoCE v2 instead of a forklift upgrade to FC or proprietary rNICs in every server is also a huge source of savings.

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Supported Solutions

StarWind NVMe-oF
Initiator Supports
Reputable Solutions

StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator is an integral part of cutting-edge solutions from reputable companies that push the boundaries of IT performance, sustainability, and cost-efficiency.

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SHARING IS CARING
StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator for Windows is the only 100% software solution to connect your Windows Server and Windows-based applications to NVMe-oF storage.

The free version enables you to put NVMe-oF to the test right here and right now without any monetary commitments. Under the hood, it's the same solution our Wall Street, military, aerospace, and automotive customers have been running in production for years. The table below will help you decide which version is right for you:

NVMe-oF Initiator
Free

NVMe-oF Initiator
Commercial

Usage

  • Allowed for non-production lab and PoC use
  • Production use is allowed

Support

  • Self-supported through StarWind online community
  • Fully supported by StarWind, your Storage vendor, and Microsoft with SLA starting at 1 hour 24/7/365

Joint problem resolution with your NVMe-oF storage vendor

  • N / A
  • Yes, for all NVMe-oF Storage solutions
NVMe-oF Initiator Free
Download NVMe-oF Initiator Free
30-days Free Trial
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5
One-of-a-Kind Offer

StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator
Is a One-of-a-Kind Offer on the Market

To date, there are no built-in tools in Windows for working with network-attached NVMe SSDs. NVMe-oF, the protocol that enables SQL, M&E applications, and VMs to get all the performance from NVMe Flash. As a result, Microsoft clients cannot get the best performance and latency for their applications.

There are some NVMe-oF-ready network cards (NICs) for Windows and Windows Server applications to work with NVMe Flash over the network. Yet, upgrading the whole interconnect with NVMe-oF capable NICs and switches for all existing systems will remain a very costly project in the foreseeable future.

StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator allows you to avoid these issues and get everything your NVMe has to offer in a cost-effective way. The solution is specifically designed for SQL and virtualization workloads. NVMe-oF Initiator from StarWind also works on Windows 10, Windows 10 Pro, Windows Server 2016, and Windows Server 2019 (Windows Server 2022 support coming soon).

You can check out the latest updates for StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator in the Release Notes.

StarWind rigorously tests its technology to offer practical results to a wide range of business IT infrastructure needs in a simple and actionable form.

Benchmark

StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator vs. Linux NVMe-oF Initiator (NUMA Scenario)

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Benchmark

StarWind NVMe-oF Initiator vs. Linux NVMe-oF Initiator (TCP and RDMA Scenario)

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Benchmark

Local NVMe vs. RDMA-Mapped NVMe-oF Remote Storage (Microsoft SQL Server AG Scenario)

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6
What The World Says About Us

StarWind included as Niche Player for the fourth consecutive time in 2021 Magic Quadrant™ for HCI Software

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StarWind
Hyperconverged Infrastructure Software
4.8
278 verified reviews
96%
Recommended
reviewed April 5, 2021
“StarWind Has Worked Extremely Well For Us For Over 7 Years.”
Industry: Finance
Company size: 3b – 10b usd
01 / 10 Read more
reviewed Sep 13, 2021
StarWind is an excellent Virtual SAN solution for Vmware
Industry: Construction
Company size: <50m usd
02 / 10 Read more
reviewed June 12, 2021
Great Software. Support and help is very good.
Industry: Manufacturing
Company size: 50m - 250m usd
03 / 10 Read more
reviewed October 14, 2020
High Performance Virtualisation Without The Expensive Hardware
Industry: Education
Company size: <5,000 emp
04 / 10 Read more
reviewed March 16, 2021
Starwind Brings High Availability And Efficiency To Our Windows Environment!
Industry: Manufacturing
Company size: 3b - 10b usd
05 / 10 Read more
reviewed February 28, 2020
Complete Hyper-Converged Solution, Easy To Implement And Manage
Industry: Finance
Company size: 1b - 3b usd
07 / 10 Read more
reviewed November 14, 2019
Customer Service Top Notch
Industry: Finance
Company size: 1b - 3b usd
08 / 10 Read more
reviewed October 20, 2016
Excelent Value For Money, Easy Implementation
Industry: Manufacturing
Company size: 3b - 10b usd
09 / 10 Read more
reviewed September 1, 2021
Great Shared Storage Solution For A VMware VSphere Essentials Cluster
Industry: Services
Company size: <50m usd
10 / 10 Read more
7
Success Stories

We were able to build 2-node storage clusters based on virtualization in 19 hypermarkets without any problems and with high cost-efficiency.

Vass Sandor, IT Infrastructure Leader
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By being able to virtualize our environment with StarWind, we were able to retire some old hardware, get our services highly available, reduce power consumption and heat in our server closet.

David Gardner, Information Systems Manager
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We are satisfied with StarWind. The support is really fantastic. Whenever any issue arises, the response is very prompt, and solution is immediate.

Srinivas Kouda, Company’s Representative
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StarWind got us off the clustered environment, which was a big help. So, I could regain control of my storage and reclaim and redistribute the space we desperately needed.

Ryan Fulton, Company’s Representative
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Price + Simplicity. StarWind VSAN offers great pricing and allows us to get work done without expensive custom hardware. It also makes getting back online quick and easy after an outage or hardware failure.

Aaron Hayes, IT Manager
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We chose StarWind Mainly because of the cost compared to other vendors. Simplicity of setup was also a major factor and I like the fact that you don’t need a vendor certified engineer to perform the installation.

John Harris, Windows System Administrator,
Department of Physics, University of Oxford
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Because of recommendations of older colleagues, with StarWind, we got a reliable storage with no additional hardware. There was a need to increase IT infrastructure performance and we saw StarWind as the most cost-effective solution.

Željko Medić, Director of IT Department
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StarWind is the best storage product I have ever used! It satisfies and exceeds requirements.

Joe Gursky, Director of IT
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8
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