Features - Storage Innovations:

FalconStor ANNOUNCES LINE OF NETWORK STORAGE SERVER APPLIANCES

FalconStor Software Inc, a developer of network storage infrastructure software solutions, announced its new product family of turnkey, self-contained (software, plus server including integrated disk array) solutions-Network Storage Server (NSS) Appliances, powered by IPStor, the company's flagship product.

FalconStor's line of NSS Appliances deliver ready-access data retention and retrieval services via a turnkey appliance, and are cost-effective, scalable, and easy to deploy and manage. More significantly, NSS Appliances address the needs of organizations ranging from small to medium to the enterprise with departmental requirements, seeking intelligent backup and rapid recovery services to optimize business continuity and maximize return on investment.

"The nature of storage in today's business environment puts new demands on business-critical data, and requires that storage systems deliver bulletproof backup capabilities, near-instant restore functionality, and constant data access and availability," said Nancy Hurley, senior analyst with Enterprise Strategy Group. "FalconStor's VTL solution provides a compelling approach to data recovery and backup by bringing to market high-capacity, easy-to-use solutions that deliver enterprise-level storage services at a cost affordable to businesses of all sizes."

FalconStor is working with a number of solution integrators to deliver NSS Appliances on a global basis. In the United States, FalconStor is working with Dynamic Network Factory, ION Computer Systems and the Storage Server Group. In Europe, FalconStor has established a strategic business relationship with Evesham Technology Limited, and in the Asia/Pacific market, with Westan Pty Ltd in Australia, as well as Systex Corp and Acer Inc in Taiwan. NSS Appliances currently offered include a VirtualTape Library Appliance, available with support for either Fibre Channel or IP/iSCSI, and a DiskVault Appliance, available in either a Server Edition or Workstation Edition. FalconStor will continue to develop turnkey storage solutions with partners throughout the world based on market and customer requirements.

"Information is the lifeblood of the global business community. FalconStor recognizes our customers' need for efficient, standalone storage solutions that can cost-effectively manage data across environments of all sizes," said Wendy Petty, FalconStor vice president of sales. "We are collaborating with and leveraging solution integrators to offer storage solutions that address and protect the availability of data, sparing corporations from the exorbitantly high business cost of downtime."

The VirtualTape Library Appliance (VTL) appears to third party backup software over Fibre Channel (FC) or an IP/iSCSI SAN as an ordinary (virtual) tape drive/library. In addition to centralizing the management and provisioning of backup resources, the VTL Appliance enhances the reliability of backup operations and accelerates the speed of recovery.

The DiskVault Appliance -- Server Edition (SE), is driven by policy, and collaborates with FalconStor's DiskSafe and Snapshot Agent technology residing on the application server (Microsoft SQL Server, Microsoft Exchange or IBM Lotus Notes) to perform real-time delta snapshots with 100 percent database integrity. If the application server experiences data loss due to soft or hard errors, the DiskVault Appliance SE can provision the selected disk, designated by time, over an IP/iSCSI network. If the application server is equipped with a bootable iSCSI HBA, the DiskVault Appliance SE can boot the application server over an IP/iSCSI network when its boot disk fails.

The DiskVault Appliance -- Workstation Edition (WSE), collaborates with FalconStor's backup agent technology residing on the workstation to deliver delta-based file backup and restore services. The DiskVault Appliance WSE maximizes availability by protecting the files in the workstation's boot and data drive. Upon disk failure, the DiskVault Appliance WSE uses the industry standard PXE protocol to boot the respective workstation and resume operation with minimal downtime.