Clustrix, a provider of database software for storage nodes, announced today that it has raised $12 million in its second round of funding led by Sequoia Capital.

The core part of the product is the software that is slapped onto third-party storage node appliances. It&'s designed to let users install additional nodes without having to rewrite their database software or deal with any other changeover headaches like outages.

The company is also in a good position to move into the cloud with its storage software that will prevent its users from having to rewrite their database code when they purchase additional storage space on public cloud servers, said Dan Liddle, director of marketing and business development for Clustrix.

&''When you exceed the performance of your big piece of iron that you lease in the cloud or your in-house databases, you have to do a wholesale change to your software architecture,&'' Liddle said. &''We can allow them to avoid having to ever shard their environment.&''

Salesforce, a large provider of customer relationship management (CRM) software, also recently announced a cloud-based storage service called database.com. The basic idea is to bring down costs of databases by allowing companies to spin up nodes whenever they need them, rather than having to install new ones. It&'s also part of a fundamental shift to the cloud for most companies, even those reluctant to make the move for security and performance risks.

But many larger companies that were initially on the cloud have had to come back to physical hardware for a number of security reasons and to help improve their performance. Companies that don&'t need massive levels of storage that the cloud could provide are also a potential target, because they typically begin their company&'s life off the cloud, Liddle said. That&'s an area Clustrix will capitalize on for the time being until it readies its software for public cloud providers.

The company was able to close its second round of funding rather quickly and had a large number of offers, but went with its existing investors in Sequoia Capital, U.S. Venture Partners and ATA Ventures.‚ The most recent round of funding brings Clustrix&'s total funding up to $30 million.‚ The San Francisco, Calif.-based company has 35 employees and came out of stealth mode in May.

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Companies: Clustrix, salesforce

People: cloud computing, database

Companies: Clustrix, salesforce

People: cloud computing, database

Matthew Lynley is VentureBeat's enterprise writer. He graduated from University of North Carolina, where he studied math and physics, in May 2010. He has reported for Reuters. He currently lives in San Francsico, Calif. You can reach him at mattl@venturebeat.com (all story pitches should also be sent to tips@venturebeat.com), and on Twitter at @logicalmoron.

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