45Drives and LINBIT Partner to Deliver Enterprise Open Storage Solutions

45Drives has announced a strategic partnership with LINBIT to deliver integrated high-availability storage solutions that combine open hardware with proven software-defined storage technologies. The collaboration brings together 45Drives' enterprise-grade infrastructure with LINBIT's DRBD and LINSTOR software stack, offering businesses turnkey access to clustered storage without traditional cost and complexity barriers.

The partnership addresses the growing demand for transparent, reliable storage solutions that avoid vendor lock-in. Dr. Doug Milburn, President of 45Drives, emphasized the shared mission of both companies: "We believe enterprise storage should be open, understandable, and built for the long haul. LINBIT has been advancing that same mission in the Linux software world for more than two decades."

LINBIT, founded by Philipp Reisner who began DRBD development as his master's thesis in 1999, brings decades of expertise in Linux-based storage. The company's software has been downloaded over 40 million times and is deployed by organizations ranging from small businesses to global giants including Apple, IBM, and Amazon. LINBIT maintains offices in Vienna, Austria, and Portland, Oregon, providing 24x7x365 support with a 1-hour emergency SLA.

The integration specifically incorporates LINBIT's DRBD technology for real-time block-level replication between nodes and LINSTOR for automated storage provisioning in clustered environments. These technologies support bare metal, virtual machine, and Kubernetes-native deployments, offering customers resilient data protection through synchronous replication and failover capabilities.

For organizations, this partnership represents a significant shift toward open infrastructure that provides complete transparency into every layer of the storage stack. Customers gain access to certified integration of LINBIT software with 45Drives hardware, backed by expert support from both companies. The solution offers scalable deployments across various environments while maintaining long-term cost predictability and freedom from proprietary system constraints.

Philipp Reisner, CEO of LINBIT, noted the complementary nature of the partnership: "We're excited to collaborate with 45Drives because they bring our open storage tools to life in the real world. Their approach to hardware and customer support is a perfect match for the kind of robust, production-grade deployments our software was built for."

The collaboration challenges the traditional storage market dominated by closed systems that prioritize margin over transparency. By combining forces, 45Drives and LINBIT enable organizations to rethink what's possible with open infrastructure while maintaining enterprise-grade reliability and support. More information about the companies can be found at https://www.45drives.com and https://www.linbit.com.