FalconStor Extends De-Dupe Solutions With New File Interface

FalconStor Software, Inc. announced a new file-interface data deduplication system along with enhancements and support for high-performance connectivity to its widely deployed Virtual Tape Library (VTL) software.

With the addition of a file interface to FalconStor’s deduplication product line, customers can choose a file interface or a VTL interface or both, depending on data center requirements. FalconStor’s new file-interface deduplication system is a block-level deduplication solution that presents a network share interface as a backup repository, offering customers another space-saving option for writing data efficiently and cost-effectively to disk. In addition, small- and medium-size businesses (SMBs) receive simple, efficient disk-to-disk backup and replication capabilities that reduce cost and improve the bottom line.

"FalconStor’s introduction of a file-interface deduplication system is important both for FalconStor and for its customers,” said Eric Burgener, senior analyst at The Taneja Group. "It brings FalconStor’s industry-leading D2D backup technology, more widely deployed than any other through their various OEM and indirect channels, to an entirely new space: NAS-based D2D backup. This promises to shake things up for existing NAS D2D vendors and extends the benefits of FalconStor’s highly scalable deduplication technology to a new customer base that values many of the same features that made FalconStor the industry leader in the VTL arena."

The industry’s number-one selling VTL solution, FalconStor® VTL software now offers high-performance 10-Gigabit iSCSI and qualified 8-Gigabit Fibre Channel connectivity to backup applications for faster, more cost-efficient backups that meet the requirements of an ever shrinking backup window. In addition, FalconStor VTL now offers customers a host of enhancements, including greater integration with Veritas NetBackup OpenStorage from Symantec on various operating systems, real-time performance statistics, tape caching with deduplication, enhanced repository management and replication, and additional library and tape-drive emulation.

With its qualification for high-performance 8-Gigabit Fibre Channel connectivity, FalconStor VTL 5.1 systems can now scale in performance up to 1.5 gigabytes/sec per node — with up to 8 nodes per each single logical deployment of VTL. This extends FalconStor VTL’s backup capability up to 43 terabytes per hour for each VTL deployment, speeding up backup to accommodate shrinking backup windows and reducing expenses by consolidating backup operations and reducing the physical system footprint in the data center.

Both the file-interface and VTL-interface deduplication solutions are based on FalconStor software’s open architecture, which gives end users highly optimized, integrated and available data protection within their current infrastructure. FalconStor’s solutions fit easily into and enhance backup environments without disruption, enabling customers to reduce disk storage, accelerate backup processes and shorten recovery times. In addition, FalconStor’s file-interface deduplication system can be deployed in any physical or virtual infrastructure environment offering file-level access to a central block-level single-instance repository. With built-in many-to-one replication capability, the file-interface system provides global deduplication by replicating from remote sites to a central data repository across the wide-area network.

FalconStor’s file-interface deduplication system accepts data from standard network backup solutions and database backup utilities; key capabilities include:

• CIFS and NFS file interface for block-level deduplication
• Immediate file-level access to deduplication repository
• Application-aware: optimized for third-party backup software
• Many-to-one replication capability included for global deduplication
• Available as Virtual Appliance on leading server virtualization platforms

“Like our popular VTL with deduplication software, the file-interface deduplication system is designed to ease into any backup environment without disruption and to dramatically reduce storage consumption,” said Alex Jiang, vice president of worldwide marketing for FalconStor. “It is yet another solution from FalconStor that helps IT managers at small companies and large enterprises alike do more with less during a time when organizations are evaluating technologies that can help cut IT expenses.”

File-interface Deduplication System
Pricing and Availability
FalconStor’s file-interface deduplication system is currently in beta testing with general availability scheduled in the first quarter of 2009. As a traditional software package ready for installation on any hardware appliance with replication included, U.S. list price starts at $13,000. As a virtual appliance without replication, U.S. list starts at $5,000, plus $2,000 for the replication option.