We’ve been covering a smattering of storage-related news of late, and it’s not surprising: Storage is bursting at the seams. XIO is looking capitalize on that demand by flexing its storage muscle, all thanks to the Microsoft Partner Solutions Center. According to Microsoft-run storage benchmarks, XIO’s Hyper-ISE exceeded the “wildest expectations.” The VAR Guy’s interest is piqued …

XIO is no stranger to our resident blogger, who covered the company way back when it was Xiotech and even took a look at its name-change overhaul. Now, XIO is looking showcase its storage prowess, thanks to Microsoft’s test labs. Microsoft put XIO’s ISE-2 and Hyper ISE storage solutions through SQL server, virtualization and data system crash tests, trying to squeeze out weaknesses or bottlenecks. Apparently, there weren’t any. Said David Hayes, senior director of Microsoft’s Partner Solutions Center:

Such honors and accolades are interesting, especially coming from Microsoft. According to XIO, its muscle comes from a three-piece solution inside its XIO technology, which offers a unique blend of scalability and performance for its storage-class and price tag. ISE “bricks” allow for super-quick HDD and SSD data swapping for “hot” data, all courtesy of XIO’s intelligent software that can detect and predict upcoming data hot-spots. The third piece is an automatic detection system for bad blocks of data, alerting users to issues before failure sets in.

There’s no price tag on these storage monsters, but The VAR Guy knows they’re targeted at the enterprise, so prices are likely to vary depending on capacity and need. If you’re a storage VAR, take XIO’s offerings seriously. Considering all the attention storage solutions from Dell, Avere and Nexsan have received, our resident blogger believes it’s worth noting that this hybrid SSD/HDD technology — now popular in 2012 — has been XIO’s baby, having been refining the solution since early 2011.