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For EuroNAS CEO Tvrtko Fritz, simplicity isn’t just a design principle; it’s a founding philosophy. “Back in 2005, we wanted to build something like a Snap Server, but simpler,” he recalls. “The problem was, even basic storage solutions expected users to understand volume groups, shares, and command-line configuration. We thought, why not make it one-click?”
That early ambition to streamline enterprise storage has since evolved into a portfolio of software-only solutions spanning high-availability clusters, hyperconverged infrastructure, and Ceph-based scale-out storage. But as Fritz tells it, the company’s trajectory wasn’t always planned. “We never sold anything to home users,” he admits. “We ended up being enterprise.”
Headquartered in Gräfelfing near Munich, with a development office in Bulgaria, EuroNAS remains privately held and relatively lean with around 15 staff plus freelancers. Yet its footprint is larger than its headcount suggests. “We have between 30,000 and 60,000 installations globally,” Fritz estimates. “Our biggest customer is in California, doing video post-production. We’re strong in media workflows, especially where post-processing and high-throughput storage are critical.”
Most of EuroNAS’s business, roughly 80%, comes from OEM relationships. “We provide the technology, they build the branded units,” Fritz explains. “You might see a Rockstar Data Storage box, but it’s running EuroNAS underneath.” That quiet ubiquity is now being challenged by a shift in go-to-market strategy. “We’re moving to the channel,” Fritz confirms. “We’ve partnered with Exertis Hammer and others. We want resellers and integrators to know who we are.”
The timing isn’t accidental. EuroNAS is seeing what Fritz calls “extreme” growth, driven by customers seeking alternatives to VMware. “It’s not a love marriage,” he says. “Nobody’s leaving VMware because they want to. They’re leaving because they have to.”
EuroNAS’s response is eEVOS, a hyperconverged operating system that integrates virtualisation, storage, and backup. “It’s an alternative to VMware vSAN,” Fritz says, “but without vendor lock-in.” eEVOS runs on standard x86 hardware and supports protocols like SMB, NFS, and iSCSI. It includes deduplicated network backup and instant recovery features. “It’s possible to restore a VM in seconds,” Fritz claims, “and even mount the backup image directly.”
That speed matters. Fritz recalls a dentist whose Windows update corrupted a VM, leaving the practice offline for eight hours. “He called every five minutes asking when the backup would finish,” Fritz says. “We realised we needed instant recovery.”
EuroNAS’s approach to snapshots also reflects its storage-first DNA. “We don’t use native KVM snapshots,” Fritz explains. “We use reflink technology. It’s like copying the index of a book, not the pages. There’s no performance hit, no extra space consumed.” That technical nuance is part of what makes EuroNAS attractive to MSPs and integrators. “We’re not just selling software,” Fritz says. “We’re supporting it. I still do support myself, and if there’s a bug, I talk to the developers directly.”
Support is a recurring theme. Fritz argues that open-source alternatives like Proxmox, while powerful, often require deep Linux expertise. “Just Google ‘upgrade Proxmox from version six to seven, ’” he says. “You’ll find a pile of commands and a whole book explaining what to do.”
EuroNAS, by contrast, offers a web-based GUI and wizard-driven setup. “Not everyone is a Linux guru,” Fritz says. “We have a CLI tool if you need it, but you don’t have to compile kernels or write scripts.”That accessibility extends to EuroNAS’s Ceph-based solution, eEKAS, which supports scale-out storage across multiple nodes. “We didn’t plan to build a Ceph product,” Fritz admits. “Cloud providers begged us for it. They said, ‘We already have virtualisation, but we need scalable storage.’”
eEKAS supports up to 32 nodes officially, though deployments with 60 nodes are already in use. One Polish TV station, for example, adds 500TB annually to its 31.5PB archive. “They can expand without downtime,” Fritz says. “Just add nodes or extend internal storage.”
The company has also implemented floating IP groups for SMB shares, allowing seamless failover across nodes. “Try doing that with standard Ceph,” Fritz says. “It’s complex. We make it manageable.”
Licensing is another differentiator. EuroNAS offers perpetual licenses with optional support renewals. “After three years, you only pay for support,” Fritz explains. “No subscription, no forced upgrades.” That model appeals to industrial customers with long hardware lifecycles. Fritz describes one UK manufacturer running 10 Xeon servers for 20 years. “They didn’t want to throw out working hardware just because it wasn’t on a compatibility list,” he says. “We let them keep it.”
Hardware independence is a point of pride. “We support NVMe over Fibre, SAS, iSCSI, whatever you’ve got,” Fritz says. “Attach it as a block device and it works.”That flexibility has led to hybrid deployments with Seagate’s ConVault units, combining SAS-based bulk storage with NVMe metadata caching. “It’s a typical Ceph use case,” Fritz says. “High capacity, moderate performance, scalable architecture.”
EuroNAS also supports disaster recovery via asynchronous VM replication. “It’s not perfect,” Fritz concedes. “But if your internet is slow, it’s better than nothing.” He describes one UK building firm with 350 branches, each running a local VM synced daily to a central server. “If a branch goes down, they just fire up the copy.”
Political factors are also shaping demand. Fritz notes increased interest in European-made solutions, particularly in the UK, Spain, and Portugal. “Brexit didn’t hurt us,” he says. “It helped. People want European products.” That sentiment has even intensified after geopolitical events like the Ukraine conflict.
Despite its growth, EuroNAS remains cautious about overextension. “We’ve had offers to be acquired,” Fritz says. “But we’ve seen what happens when you become dependent on one partner.” He recalls a past OEM relationship that collapsed after the partner tried, and failed, to build a competing product. “They cancelled the contract and lost a huge business.”
Today, EuroNAS is diversifying through channel partnerships and regional resellers. “We’re working with Lenovo in the UK and DWP in Holland,” Fritz says. “We’re not just OEM suppliers anymore.”That shift includes plans to integrate with third-party backup vendors like Veeam. “Customers are more willing to switch from VMware than from Veeam,” Fritz observes, “so we’re adding API support.”
Still, he insists EuroNAS isn’t trying to be everything to everyone. “We’re not saying our product solves all problems,” he says. “But if you want a manageable, supported, hardware-independent solution, we’re here.”
For channel partners, that message may resonate. EuroNAS offers margins, avoids direct customer poaching, and supports white-label branding. That channel-friendly focus is part of a broader cultural shift. “We used to ignore the channel,” Fritz admits. “Now we’re embracing it. We want to be known.”
Whether that recognition comes through OEM boxes or branded deployments, Fritz is clear about the company’s priorities. “We’re a software company,” he says. “We don’t sell hardware. We support it.”
And for resellers navigating the post-VMware landscape, that may be enough.
