Compellent, the leading innovator in enterprise storage recently announced that it has secured $15 Million in financing led by new investor Nomura International PLC. Existing investors also participated in this round. Demand for Compellent’s award-winning midrange storage area network (SAN), Storage Center, and the operating efficiency of the company’s business model will more than double revenue in 2006 and ensure consistent profitability in 2007.

Since its introduction in early 2004, Compellent’s SAN has attracted more than 400 customers, an international network of channel partners and widespread industry acclaim for the product’s powerful capabilities and ease-of-use. IDG’s InfoWorld, a leading magazine for technology decision-makers, named Compellent’s Storage Center 2006 “Best SAN”.

Innovative data storage products and business model drive greater than 100 percent revenue growth in 2006 and profitability

“Compellent’s growth is among the fastest we’ve seen in the storage industry,” said Andrew Healey, head of Nomura International’s Technology Private Equity Group. “Their unique combination of ground-breaking technology and a highly-efficient business model has allowed unprecedented growth for minimal investment compared to other data storage companies.”

Compellent’s Storage Center radically reduces the total cost of storage acquisition and management through a feature set and user interface that offers unparalleled functionality and ease of use. Among its many features, Storage Center is the industry’s only SAN with Automated Tiered Storage, which automatically moves data to the optimum tier of storage based on usage. No other data storage provider can deliver this capability.

“Our significant revenue growth and how quickly we are approaching profitability prove that our business model is working, and working well,” said Phil Soran, founder and chief executive officer for Compellent. “We will use this additional financing to further accelerate our growth, funding incremental sales and marketing resources and international expansion of our business.”

Compellent has combined significantly differentiated sales, manufacturing, and product development strategies into a highly-efficient and scalable business model that enables the company to minimize operating costs while maximizing the resources focused on software innovation. As a result, demand for Compellent’s data storage products has greatly accelerated customer adoption, revenue growth and profitability.

In total, Compellent has raised more than $53 million since its founding by storage area network and virtualization pioneers Phil Soran, John Guider and Larry Aszmann. Compellent is yet another successful storage venture for the trio, having previously founded and eventually sold Xiotech to Seagate for $360 million in 2000.

Investors Cargill Ventures, Centennial Ventures, Crescendo Ventures, and El Dorado Ventures led previous financing.