By: Aman Jalan
Media organizations today face increasingly complex challenges. Distributed production environments, massive data volumes, and emerging AI technologies create unprecedented workflow friction. Managing this sheer amount of content efficiently without suffering financial penalties for growth or data movement is a critical hurdle for creative and enterprise teams alike.
OpenDrives addresses these exact challenges with future-focused, software-defined video and rich media storage management solutions. Recently named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 list, the company offers a unique approach that eliminates traditional vendor lock-in through composable licensing and hybrid-edge technology. Today, we sit down with Trevor Morgan, CEO of OpenDrives, to discuss his company’s recent recognition, their latest storage innovations, and how they are streamlining creative workflows for the future.
Q: Congratulations on being named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 list. What does this recognition say about OpenDrives’ mission to solve complex video workflow challenges?
Trevor Morgan: Being named to the 2026 CRN Storage 100 list signifies how OpenDrives is helping organizations solve complex video workflow challenges in two key ways:
First, video content is increasingly pervasive across all enterprises, not just in media and entertainment. People are grappling and struggling with how to manage and monetize complex video content. OpenDrives provides the necessary thought and technical leadership to help them solve these video-related problems.
Second, the video content industry is experiencing rapid evolution in technologies like AI, camera capabilities, resolution, and protocols. OpenDrives is well-positioned to help organizations navigate this rapidly evolving landscape, which can easily overwhelm people due to the sheer volume and complexity of these emerging technologies. We can help implement the appropriate technologies for data and content storage, management, and movement so that you can keep up with these changes, and even get in front of the curve, while achieving business goals.
Q: OpenDrives is known for disrupting standard storage norms. How do your Unlimited Capacity Licensing and composable feature bundles change the game for media organizations tired of traditional software monetization models?
Trevor Morgan: OpenDrives’ unlimited capacity licensing and composable feature bundles change the game for media organizations by addressing “penalization”, which is inherent in traditional software monetization models. We were founded on open standards, open protocols, and openness, and it’s in our DNA to break down those proprietary walls. And so, to keep in line with that corporate philosophy, we decided to break down our pricing in terms of its true value, not based on capacity or unnecessary features or capabilities. We don’t believe in penalizing customers and throwing obstacles in their path toward growth.
Our unlimited capacity licensing model prevents customers from being penalized as their data capacity grows. In dynamic environments where storage needs can fluctuate, we’re not charging more for simply increasing data that is managed by the software. Instead, costs are tied to the addition of new servers, which is a more predictable and growth-friendly model. This allows you to scale storage without incurring unexpected or punitive charges.
Composable feature bundles allow customers to select and pay only for the specific features they require, much like configuring a car with desired options rather than being forced into an expensive package. This prevents you from paying for unwanted functionalities, avoiding unnecessary costs, and ensuring you get a tailored solution that supports your business outcomes and growth without penalization.
Q: With remote teams becoming the norm, hybrid storage is essential. Can you explain how the new Edge hybrid cloud-edge performance accelerator brings local LAN speeds to remote locations without triggering cloud egress penalties?
Trevor Morgan: OpenDrives’ new Edge hybrid cloud-edge performance accelerator brings local LAN speeds to remote locations without triggering cloud egress penalties by:
● Serving as a local accelerator: It acts as an accelerator in a remote location, directly negotiating with cloud resources. This eliminates the need for content to travel from the cloud to a central data center and then out to the remote, edge location, streamlining access.
● Caching frequently used data: If a team or multiple individuals in a remote location need to use a file or content frequently, Edge downloads it from the cloud once and caches it locally. This single download prevents multiple egress fees for every individual access. For example, if 100 people need the same file, only one egress fee is charged for the initial download to the cache, rather than 100 separate fees.
● Providing faster localized access: Once content is cached at the remote edge location, subsequent access is localized and therefore much faster and more highly performant for users or workloads in that area.
The overall goal is to ensure remote workers and workloads in remote locations can access data in a more localized way while reducing the chances of excessive cloud egress fees.
Q: The upcoming release of Atlas software version 2.11 includes native Azure Blob mount support and improved observability. How will these technical enhancements directly impact the daily operations of corporate creative teams?
Trevor Morgan: OpenDrives’ Atlas data storage and management platform’s software version 2.11 enhancements will directly impact the daily operations of corporate creative teams in several ways:
Native Azure Blob mount support: Many corporate and enterprise teams are Microsoft-centric, making Azure a major player in their cloud infrastructure. This feature allows OpenDrives to support a significant portion of potential customers (Azure holds a 25% market share of worldwide cloud infrastructure), enabling seamless integration for creative teams already utilizing Azure.
Improved observability: Observability provides deeper insight into the environment where OpenDrives’ software, Atlas, resides, allowing customers to “head issues off at the pass” and understand developing problems or areas for optimization. Unlike passive or reactive monitoring, observability correlates multiple subtle or “latent” indicators to anticipate potential issues before they become critical, enabling proactive adjustments and ensuring reliable operations and business outcomes. Observability is how we make sure that our software and our peripheral technologies are underpinning customer operations, and we’re observing how well they’re behaving and, hopefully, bringing potential issues to the forefront.
Q: You recently announced the “Less Duo More” promotion, offering 50% off MSRP on remaining Ultra hardware appliances. What motivated this aggressive promotion, and what specific value does the Optimum system offer to new or expanding customers?
Trevor Morgan: The “Less Duo More” promotion, offering 50% off MSRP on remaining Ultra hardware appliances, was motivated by several factors:
● OpenDrives’ shift to a software company: OpenDrives is committed to being a 100% software-focused company, aiming to no longer design or bring hardware to market. The goal is for our Atlas software to run on third-party hardware and be truly hardware agnostic. After all, our value is in the software, and we want 100% of our research and development to have a primary focus on building more software.
● Inventory reduction: The promotion is designed to eliminate existing inventory of our valuable, highly performant Ultra line of NAS storage, driven by Atlas, so that we can laser focus on transitioning further away from hardware manufacturing into developing our software and data services.
● Addressing hardware supply chain challenges: We wanted to help customers who are currently facing increasing difficulty and exponential price growth in acquiring servers with proper CPUs, RAM, and storage media due to global supply chain issues. OpenDrives’ Duo is ready to go, so you can avoid long wait times that can extend into 2027 or 2028 to acquire new hardware. Bypassing typical supply chain delays means immediate deployment to support your critical workflows.
The Duo is built on the Optimum, which is part of our Ultra hardware appliance line, and is geared for current OpenDrives customers or for new customers who need:
● Budget-friendly enterprise-grade performance: New or expanding organizations, who may not have massive budgets, will get to acquire proven enterprise-grade storage at a significantly reduced price point, making the jump into a serious production environment more affordable and obtainable.
● Proven reliability: The Ultra line has been proven in some of the largest media and entertainment companies globally, providing confidence in its reliability and performance. You’re buying into an enterprise ecosystem, which, if supported effectively, can underpin your growing workflows, content libraries, and business outcomes. And because Optimum is driven by our Atlas software, you’ll be benefiting from the capabilities we’ve talked about already, like accelerated workflows, unlimited capacity licensing, composable software feature bundles, and even free access to our new Edge hybrid cloud-edge performance accelerator.
The Less Duo More promotion helps not only our customers, but also us in completing three years of divesting the hardware design aspect of our business so that we can focus on where the true value is: the software and our data services.
This discussion highlights the critical need for flexibility and financial predictability in modern media storage. From unlimited capacity licensing to hybrid-edge acceleration, OpenDrives demonstrates a clear commitment to eliminating workflow friction. Their recent recognition by CRN underscores the industry’s shift toward scalable, software-defined solutions that empower creative teams rather than restrict them with rigid pricing or technology silos.
As data volumes continue to explode and production environments become increasingly decentralized, robust storage management will only grow in importance. Organizations must adopt practical, cost-effective technologies to maintain their competitive edge and secure their assets. OpenDrives stands ready to meet this demand, offering the tools necessary to manage massive datasets seamlessly and turn video content into revenue.
To learn more, visit opendrives.com
