AI Data Storage Leader MinIO Expands Partner Program to Meet AIStor Demand
MinIO names former NetApp and Pure Storage veteran Mike Marinchak as VP of Global Partner Sales to lead partner strategy; increases partner incentives for revenue growth and enhances training, enablement, and tiering for partners
REDWOOD CITY, Calif., June 11, 2025 /CNW/ -- MinIO, the leader in high-performance object storage for the exabyte AI era, today launched an expanded MinIO Partner Program. The MinIO Partner Program is designed to meet the evolving needs of global customers as the demand for object storage skyrockets with AI adoption, which is projected to exceed $20B by the end of 2025, according to IDC. The updated partner experience introduces new, unique and profitable opportunities for partners as more and more customers rely on MinIO AIStor as the de facto object-native storage system for AI.
According to Statista, the total amount of data created, captured, copied, and consumed globally reached 149 zettabytes in 2024 and is forecast to increase rapidly, reaching 394 zettabytes by 2028. This is in large part because AI model scale is continuing to grow rapidly, with training compute doubling every five months and dataset sizes every eight, according to Stanford University's 2025 AI Index Report. Consequently, the AI data storage market is expanding rapidly and MinIO is experiencing unparalleled growth. With multiple 8 figure exabyte scale customer engagements closed in 2024 and 149% Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR) growth over the last two years, MinIO is evolving its Partner Program to meet this scale and demand.
The program now offers larger incentives for revenue growth, enhanced training courses, enablement materials, and new certifications and tiering for partners in the MinIO ecosystem. Areas of focus include channel (system integrators, appliance partners and distributors), cloud, GSI, platform, and technology partners.
MinIO's newly appointed partner leader, Mike Marinchak, formerly led channel and partner sales at NetApp and Pure Storage, and brings nearly 25 years of experience in the data storage and infrastructure industry. At MinIO, Marinchak will be focused on extending MinIO AIStor's capabilities and services through channel partners (system integrators, appliance partners and distributors), with plans to partner globally. He has been instrumental in shaping this new program and will be critical to company growth moving forward.
"After launching MinIO AIStor in late 2024 and setting a new bar for multi-exabyte AI data storage, the evolution of the MinIO Partner Program presents a massive partner opportunity as AI adoption drives exponential demand for scalable storage solutions," said Mike Marinchak, Vice President, Global Partner Sales, MinIO. "The enhancements to the program deliver significantly more value to our partners, and importantly, to our customers, as we continue to invest in expanding the reach and breadth of MinIO global offerings available."
Continuing its promise of a frictionless partnership that paves the way for customer and partner success globally, the MinIO Partner Program centers around four key pillars:
Market Demand — Partners can expect to benefit from MinIO's massive global adoption (over 33K community Slack members and 52.8K stars and 6K forks on GitHub) and AIStor's unmatched performance, which scales linearly with capacity in a single namespace, as customers strive for storage environment modernization and cost and control optimization.
Bundling — Partners can realize a 4-5x selling opportunity by bundling standardized storage hardware with MinIO AIStor and services to maximize ASPs.
Sustained Profitability & Predictable Subscription Model — Partners can build recurring revenues with generous margins for the entirety of the customer engagement, across renewals, up-sell and cross-sell.
Enablement & Certification — MinIO now empowers partners with dedicated deal support, enablement training and a paid certification program via the MinIO Academy to arm partners with the skills, knowledge, and confidence required for success.
"Trace3 and MinIO have a strong partnership and successful track record in helping joint customers meet and exceed their goals," said Jeremy Morris, General Manager, Northwest, Trace3. "We value the new opportunities the partner program delivers, especially the increased revenue opportunities, co-marketing, and advanced training—it makes us better, together. The benefits of this revamped program will help fuel our business growth as we evolve our offerings and go-to-market strategy."
As a part of the updated program, the MinIO Academy offers different levels of MinIO sales, technical, and advanced technical training. Each level of training earns a badge to recognize the skills and commitment it represents. Partners can access training via the partner portal.
New partners can apply to join the partner program here.
About MinIO
MinIO is the leader in high-performance object storage for AI. With 2B+ Docker downloads 50k+ stars on GitHub, MinIO is used by more than half of the Fortune 500 to achieve performance at scale at a fraction of the cost compared to the public cloud providers. MinIO AIStor is uniquely designed to meet the flexibility and exascale requirements of AI, empowering organizations to fully capitalize on existing AI investments and address emerging infrastructure challenges while delivering continuous business value. Founded in November 2014 by industry visionaries AB Periasamy and Garima Kapoor, MinIO is the world's fastest growing object store.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CTV News
2 hours ago
- CTV News
China's humanoid robots generate more soccer excitement than their human counterparts
Teams compete using the T1 robots from Booster Robotics during the inaugural RoBoLeague robot soccer competition held in Beijing, Saturday, June 28, 2025. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan) BEIJING — While China's men's soccer team hasn't generated much excitement in recent years, humanoid robot teams have won over fans in Beijing based more on the AI technology involved than any athletic prowess shown. Four teams of humanoid robots faced off in fully autonomous 3-on-3 soccer matches powered entirely by artificial intelligence on Saturday night in China's capital in what was touted as a first in China and a preview for the upcoming World Humanoid Robot Games, set to take place in Beijing. According to the organizers, a key aspect of the match was that all the participating robots operated fully autonomously using AI-driven strategies without any human intervention or supervision. Equipped with advanced visual sensors, the robots were able to identify the ball and navigate the field with agility They were also designed to stand up on their own after falling. However, during the match several still had to be carried off the field on stretchers by staff, adding to the realism of the experience. China is stepping up efforts to develop AI-powered humanoid robots, using sports competitions like marathons, boxing, and football as a real-world proving ground. Cheng Hao, founder and CEO of Booster Robotics, the company that supplied the robot players, said sports competitions offer the ideal testing ground for humanoid robots, helping to accelerate the development of both algorithms and integrated hardware-software systems. He also emphasized safety as a core concern in the application of humanoid robots. 'In the future, we may arrange for robots to play football with humans. That means we must ensure the robots are completely safe,' Cheng said. 'For example, a robot and a human could play a match where winning doesn't matter, but real offensive and defensive interactions take place. That would help audiences build trust and understand that robots are safe.' Booster Robotics provided the hardware for all four university teams, while each school's research team developed and embedded their own algorithms for perception, decision-making, player formations, and passing strategies—including variables such as speed, force, and direction, according to Cheng. In the final match, Tsinghua University's THU Robotics defeated the China Agricultural University's Mountain Sea team with a score of 5–3 to win the championship. Mr. Wu, a supporter of Tsinghua, celebrated their victory while also praising the competition. 'They (THU) did really well,' he said. 'But the Mountain Sea team (of Agricultural University) was also impressive. They brought a lot of surprises.' China's men have made only one World Cup appearance and have already been knocked out of next years' competition in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Globe and Mail
7 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
3 Artificial Intelligence (AI) Stocks That Still Look Like Long-Term Winners
When you consider whether to invest in a company for the long term, you'll often find that stocks fall into two groups. The first includes stocks of companies that have done well. For those, it's about whether they can continue to perform at a high level. The other consists of flawed stocks, companies facing adversity or potential challenges that may deter investors. Where to invest $1,000 right now? Our analyst team just revealed what they believe are the 10 best stocks to buy right now. Continue » Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR), Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL), and Alphabet (NASDAQ: GOOG)(NASDAQ: GOOGL) are three well-known technology stocks representing a mix of both groups. Palantir has been one of the market's biggest winners in artificial intelligence (AI), while investors wonder whether Apple and Alphabet are losing their edge. Here is the skinny on each name and why all three can still be long-term winners. 1. This AI stock continues to defy gravity Palantir Technologies continues to chug higher, racking up a blistering 2,100% gain since 2023. The company has become a leader in developing AI software on its proprietary platforms for government and enterprise customers. And since launching AIP, its AI-focused platform, in mid-2023, Palantir's growth has continued to accelerate. The company still has fewer than 500 commercial customers in the United States, a tiny fraction of the country's 20,000 large corporations. Then, you factor in Palantir's close military ties (government contracts accounted for 55% of revenue in Q1 2025) at a time when America is involved in numerous geopolitical conflicts, and it's easy to envision years of high-speed growth. Despite its best efforts, Palantir's business hasn't kept pace with its share price. The stock has rocketed to a forward P/E ratio of 245, which is excessive, to say the least, for a business expected to compound earnings at an annualized rate of 31% over the long term. Given its growth momentum, both in the government and with commercial customers, Palantir's business appears poised to continue winning. That said, investors will probably want to wait for some significant dips to buy the stock at a more reasonable valuation. 2. Should investors worry about Apple's slow start in AI? AI seemed like a layup for Apple, with a wide-moat ecosystem spanning more than 2.35 billion active iOS devices worldwide. All Apple has needed to do is integrate AI capabilities into its iOS platform, and it would instantly be one of the leading consumer-facing AI companies, if not the leader. Yet Apple has struggled to launch notable AI features smoothly, and its underwhelming rollout of Apple Intelligence, its first attempt at AI, compelled the company to reorganize its AI team. The good news is that Apple's iOS remains one of the stickiest consumer ecosystems, which buys time for Apple to figure things out. People buy Apple products and use them for several years. The devices, whether it's a phone, computer, tablet, or watch, sync and work together. People become accustomed to iOS and develop a commitment to the ecosystem. Users may drift away from Apple eventually if it doesn't figure out AI, but it's unlikely that Apple's user base would implode overnight. Ultimately, Apple is a behemoth, a financial juggernaut with one of the world's most influential brands. While Apple may not deliver the same type of returns as in years past at a $3 trillion market cap, the stock should have a relatively high floor, based on the company's massive stock buybacks, growing dividend, and sticky business model. It's worth the leap of faith that Apple will solve its AI frustrations. 3. Is AI an opportunity or a threat to Google? Google's parent company, Alphabet, is facing some pressure from several directions. AI models have become popular enough to begin siphoning traffic away from traditional search engines, like Google. At the same time, U.S. regulators have successfully pursued litigation against Alphabet for anti-competitive practices, which could result in fines or even forced divestitures that would potentially impact its core advertising business. The adversity has one of the world's most prominent technology stocks trading at a P/E ratio of just 19 today. Yet, AI is arguably more an opportunity than a threat. Alphabet has integrated AI summaries into its search results, successfully monetizing them. Despite all the worries about AI, Google's ad revenue still grew by 10% in Q1 2025. Plus, Google Cloud is growing in size and profitability due to AI boosting demand for cloud services. If that weren't enough, Alphabet's autonomous ride-hailing business, Waymo, is continuing to expand its footprint across the United States and could eventually become a significant piece of Alphabet's business. When you put it all together, it seems that this technology giant will continue to remain a prominent force across the AI and technology space. That's an easy bet to make when the stock trades near its lowest valuation of the past decade. Should you invest $1,000 in Palantir Technologies right now? Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to177%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025
Globe and Mail
8 hours ago
- Globe and Mail
2 Popular AI Stocks to Sell Before They Drop 50% and 69%, According to Wall Street Analysts
Palantir Technologies (NASDAQ: PLTR) and Super Micro Computer (NASDAQ: SMCI) are two of the most popular artificial intelligence (AI) stocks on the market. Since January 2023, Palantir has returned 1,900%, and Supermicro has returned 480%. But certain Wall Street analysts think the stocks are wildly overvalued. Rishi Jaluria at RBC Capital recently set a target price of $40 per share for Palantir. That implies 69% downside from its current share price of $130. Mike Ng at Goldman Sachs recently set a target price of $24 per share for Supermicro. That implies 50% downside from its current share price of $48. Here's what investors should know about Palantir and Supermicro. Palantir Technologies: 69% implied downside Palantir develops data analytics and artificial intelligence (AI) software for customers in the commercial and government sectors. International Data Corporation has ranked the company as the market leader in decision-intelligence platforms, and Forrester Research has recognized its technology leadership in AI platforms, a market forecast to grow at 40% annually through 2028. Palantir reported solid first-quarter financial results. Revenue jumped 39% to $884 million, the seventh consecutive acceleration, driven by particularly strong sales growth in the U.S. commercial and government segments. Non-GAAP (non-generally accepted accounting principles) net income increased by 62% to $0.13 per diluted share. Management also raised its full-year guidance, with sales now expected to increase by 36% in 2025. In short, Palantir has a strong presence in a quickly growing industry, and the company is evidently executing on that opportunity. The problem is valuation. Wall Street expects the company's adjusted earnings to increase by 31% annually through 2026. That makes the current valuation of 280 times adjusted earnings look absurdly rich. Alternatively, Palantir currently trades at 105 times sales. No other company in the S&P 500 has a price-to-sales multiple above 35. That means Palantir's share price could drop 66% and it would still be the most expensive stock in the S&P 500. I doubt the stock will fall 69% (as Rishi Jaluria anticipates), but I think shareholders should maintain very small positions. The slightest bit of bad news could cause this stock to crash. Super Micro Computer: 50% implied downside Super Micro Computer develops data center servers and storage solutions, including rack-scale systems optimized for artificial intelligence and other high-performance computing applications. The company says its internal design capabilities and modular approach to product development enable it to bring new technologies to market very quickly, often months ahead of its competitors. Supermicro accounted for 6.5% of global server sales during the fourth quarter of 2024, second only to Dell Technologies, which had a 7.2% revenue share. More importantly, Supermicro has emerged as the early leader in AI servers, a market forecast to grow by 37% annually through 2030, due to its rapid time-to-market capabilities. Some analysts think Supermicro will lose market share as competition increases because there is nothing about its business model that cannot be replicated. Supermicro is not responsible for the innovation; it simply assembles chips built by other companies, such as Nvidia, into servers. Also, KeyBanc analysts argue that Supermicro has "structurally lower margins" because it owns fewer patents than its peers. Supermicro reported disappointing financial results for the third quarter of fiscal 2025, which ended in March. Revenue increased by 19% to $5.6 billion, gross margin contracted by 2 percentage points, and non-GAAP net income fell 53% to $0.31 per diluted share. The company also cut its full-year guidance for the second time in as many quarters. Revenue is now expected to grow 49% in fiscal 2025, down from the initial forecast that called for 87% growth. Wall Street expects Supermicro's adjusted earnings to grow by 18% annually through fiscal 2026, which ends in June 2026. That consensus makes the current valuation of 21 times adjusted earnings look reasonable, but analysts may be overestimating the company. Supermicro has missed the consensus earnings estimate by an average of 17% in the last four quarters. Personally, I doubt the stock will drop 50% (as Mike Ng anticipates), though history suggests that sort of volatility is possible. But investors should limit stock purchases to companies with a durable competitive moat, and I'm not sure Supermicro satisfies that criterion. Should you invest $1,000 in Palantir Technologies right now? Before you buy stock in Palantir Technologies, consider this: The Motley Fool Stock Advisor analyst team just identified what they believe are the 10 best stocks for investors to buy now… and Palantir Technologies wasn't one of them. The 10 stocks that made the cut could produce monster returns in the coming years. Consider when Netflix made this list on December 17, 2004... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $713,547!* Or when Nvidia made this list on April 15, 2005... if you invested $1,000 at the time of our recommendation, you'd have $966,931!* Now, it's worth noting Stock Advisor 's total average return is1,062% — a market-crushing outperformance compared to177%for the S&P 500. Don't miss out on the latest top 10 list, available when you join Stock Advisor. See the 10 stocks » *Stock Advisor returns as of June 23, 2025
