Before buzzwords like “cloud” and “software-defined storage” (SDS) became part of our everyday vocabulary, software developers like Boyan Ivanov, Chief Executive and Co-Founder of StorPool Storage, already were hard at work devising ways to build extremely fast, reliable, and scalable storage solutions for public and private use cases. While the solution may not have had a fancy moniker, Stephen Foskett looks at what StorPool presented at Storage Field Day and how it aims to re-energize block storage, combining high-end storage area network (SAN) technology through software and the performance of local solid-state drive (SSD) storage.