Editorial
We continue our What's in a Name series today with another look at technology companies with interesting names. Today: PernixData, Qumulo and Allyke
PernixData
Founded: 2012
Headquarters: San Jose, Calif.
Number of employees: 173
Specializes in: Scale-out storage performance and management
CEO: Poojan Kumar
Was this the original name? Yes
Who named the company? Mark Leslie, who founded Veritas Software in 2004 and is one of PernixData’s investors, suggested that we look in the Latin dictionary for a name. We (co-founders Poojan Kumar and Satyam Vaghani) selected PernixData to convey how we would revolutionize the space and disrupt incumbent players.
How and why did the company take on this name? We settled on “Pernix” — which comes from Latin and means “agile, nimble, brisk, quick” — because the word represents our core value: to quickly adapt to constantly changing conditions with groundbreaking technology that sets the standard in storage. We created the company with a mission of “making impossible storage possible.” To do that, you have to predict end user needs and adapt to changes quicker than the competition.
What tech company names do you envy? Oracle, Pure Storage.
Qumulo
Founded: March 2012
Headquarters: Seattle
Number of employees: 135
Specializes in: Data-aware scale-out network attached storage (NAS)
CEO: Peter Godman
Was this the original name? Yes
Who named the company? Co-founders Peter Godman, Neal Fachan and Aaron Passey
How and why did the company take on this name? Qumulo is a play on the Latin word “Cumulo,” which means “stack” or “heap.” The co-founders felt it was an apt metaphor for storage. It also refers to cumulonimbus clouds.
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What tech company names do you envy? Amazon, Facebook.
Allyke
Founded: 2015
Headquarters: Wellesley, Mass.
Number of employees: 12
Specializes in: Allyke has created a visual shopping platform for enterprise retailers who want to transform the consumer experience. Our visual search lets consumers “shop outside the box” — combining the power of image-based queries with traditional keywords and filters.
Allyke brings the in-store “explore and discover” shopping experience online and the utility of image-based search into the store, increasing conversion rates across all channels.
Was this the original name? Yes
Who named the company? Greg Moeller, CEO
How and why did the company take on this name? Prior to legally creating a company, we conducted dozens of meetings with potential customers using their feedback to drive multiple prototype iterations.
As we shared these initial concepts, we often heard about how the technology could provide consumers with "alike" products. We were brainstorming company names and came up with "Allyke" as a playful variation of the word and it stuck.
What tech company names do you envy? Envy is probably not the right verb for me, but we do admire companies with names that embody a core aspect of the problem solved, product, or technology. Examples would include names like Tesla and Intel.
Want to suggest a company for "What's in a Name?" Contact Staff Reporter Dom Nicastro. Title image "”What’s in a name?”" (CC BY 2.0) by jack dorsey
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