FalconStor FreeStor Platform to Be Available

FalconStor Software, Inc. announced availability of FreeStor, the first truly horizontal, SDS platform for unified data services.

To ensure a smooth global product roll-out, the FreeStor platform is available for limited distribution through certain geographies direct from FalconStor and local FalconStor partners.

On June 3, 2015, FreeStor will be available for full distribution direct from FalconStor, local partners, OEM partners and Alliance partners.

FreeStor adds a core Intelligent Abstraction layer that utilizes virtualization, data services and policy-based automation to de-couple applications, data, and workloads from physical hardware, networks and protocols. It virtualizes almost any storage environment – modern or legacy, virtual or physical – to deliver data services like data mobility, always-on BC, HA, data protection, recovery, optimization, and provisioning across the unified storage pool to help enable the path to the software-defined data center.

Designed to free businesses from complexities and unnecessary expense, FreeStor harnesses all storage resources (arrays, servers, hypervisors, data centers, and the cloud) regardless of type, connectivity, brand or speed, and provides a single management view that eliminates the complexity and incompatibilities of managing storage as point solutions – all for a single price based on capacity. With FreeStor, users can convert legacy storage to converged infrastructures while preserving existing investments, introduce new technologies such as flash, and gain an on-ramp to private and hybrid clouds.

“FreeStor is a landmark achievement with the capability to change the economics of the industry, and the commodity hardware market, by enabling legacy environments to be modernized into 100% agnostic software-defined storage architectures,” said FalconStor president and CEO Gary Quinn. “With FalconStor celebrating our 15th anniversary in business, FreeStor represents the culmination of the company’s original vision to simplify storage environments, while empowering customers to choose and integrate new technologies for maximum overall value. It is also our entryway into new global markets where storage infrastructures are looking for simplicity and better ROI.“

“As the industry moves to storage networks built on commodity hardware and differentiated by software and services, technologies like FreeStor are effective at not only simplifying data management and protection, but freeing the business from vendor-specific solutions and constraints,” said David Floyer, co-founder and CTO, Wikibon, a Marlborough, MA-based research and analysis firm. “Anything that contributes to software-defined storage is welcomed by the market, and in particular by channel and storage suppliers who need greater flexibility in designing solutions.“

The FreeStor platform includes all data management services for an annual subscription based price-per-TB model that includes 24 x 7 support, basic installation and any software upgrades. MSRP pricing starts at $.03/GB per month ($350/TB per year).

Sandor Orvan, infrastructure engineering, Sunrise Telecom Incorporated, said: “Moving clients to cloud storage, flash arrays, or software-defined storage is a worthy goal, but in practice can create a lot of complexity. We are happy to see FalconStor address these challenges in FreeStor, and give our clients a software-defined approach to implement newer technologies and workloads, without the incompatibilities, high software licensing costs, or excessive costs of WAN migration.“

Didier Delhoste, MD, Cheops Technology France SA, said: “The key selling point of data management as a service is that the processes should be simple, automated, and reliable for the end user, and that is surprisingly difficult to deliver with products available today that are tied to specific hardware, networking, or protocols. With FreeStor, we can view all client data as a single storage pool, and bill based on capacity, along with all the reporting we need, so it’s never been simpler to offer a complete and standardized set of services.“

Nick Jackson, MD, C-Ways Ltd, said: “As a company that sells high-performance IT systems and solutions, we are excited about these new announcements. We have been a FalconStor partner since 2010 to deliver unmatched data protection capabilities without any reduction in storage performance. This is a benefit for our customers, and we look forward to continuing to grow our partnership together.“

Olaf Von Heyer, CEO, Concat AG, said: “The FreeStor platform and approach enables us to offer and deliver additional solution services to our customers. The ability to manage both our infrastructure and customer data with a single platform and interface allows us to expand beyond just hosted solutions, but now offer hybrid solutions on premise and across customer sites. This will enable us to go after new revenue streams while helping reduce operations cost and complexities.“

Eric Alimi, CEO, Komposite (C.S.C. Informatique) SAS, said: “FreeStor is an ideal product for us because it makes the best use of hardware and systems that are already in place, rather than putting customers through the pain and sticker shock of building a new infrastructure from the ground up. Using existing resources, and adding high-end features via the software suite, for a predictable and reasonable cost, earns far more customer loyalty than recommending they rip out everything we just sold them three years ago.“

Yann Rolland, CEO, Synerway SAS, said: “In an era of hardware commoditization, it can be difficult for end users to distinguish one product from another, so integration and partnerships are critical for demonstrating innovation and value. FalconStor has developed a truly groundbreaking portfolio that transforms data center operations and gives end users the unified and modernized approach to protection and recovery that enterprises want.“

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