BridgeSTOR Strategy Eliminating Backup Software

BridgeSTOR, LLC announced a comprehensive strategy that enables data protection managers to eliminate the need for backup software when protecting unstructured data.

The key ingredient is the BridgeSTOR Cloud File Versioning feature (standard in BridgeSTOR Coronado products) which tracks deleted or modified files and creates versions of these files in the equivalent of a Recycle Bin – similar to the Windows Recycle Bin or Apple Time Machine.

Today’s private or public cloud storage offers advanced ‘data spreading’ capabilities that eliminate the need for traditional replication of data required for DR. Amazon claims that their S3 offering “stores data with up to 99.999999999% durability, with 99.99% availability with no single points of failure and no downtime.” This capability, however, does little to help administrators recover from accidental file deletion or file corruption. The essential capability of recovering files still requires annual renewal of expensive backup software licenses.

The Coronado Cloud Gateway enables administrators to create a standard SMB/CIFS or NFS storage share and map a drive letter (F:\ drive, for example) with direct connectivity to cloud storage. Once installed, administrators may use the Coronado Gateway as a standard NAS in which unstructured data (files) are automatically stored on durable storage – eliminating time and performance robbing RAID rebuilds. Coronado File Versioning capability enables fallback to an earlier copy of data in the event of the loss or corruption of the original data copy.

The Coronado family of products consists of the Coronado Cloud Storage Gateway appliance, the Coronado Cloud Storage Gateway VM and the Coronado Synchronization Server. The family enables data protection professionals to utilize S3 cloud storage and private cloud storage to store and protect critical, unstructured data without regard to the data’s physical location.

Coronado Cloud Storage Gateway Appliances enhance the functionality and value of cloud storage through a set of features including:

• Data deduplication and compression to reduce the amount of physical content stored;
• SMB II and NFS protocol support for application integration with existing systems;
• Active Directory integration for user and group authentication; and
• a local cache that provides local access performance for cloud-resident data plus a list of additional features.

A single Coronado Synchronization Server operates in conjunction with multiple Coronado Cloud Storage Gateway Appliances to provide consistent and secure access to shared, cloud-resident data for distributed, worldwide enterprises.

“For years I have wondered why we still continue to buy and renew 20 plus year old backup software. With data exploding, corporations no longer have the time to backup up all of their data. cloud storage more than covers corporate DR requirements, but the missing piece has always been file backup. Why backup all your files when in reality you only need to protect the files that are changed on a daily basis?” says John Matze, CEO, BridgeSTOR. “The Coronado family of cloud storage access products now enables BridgeSTOR to offer the industry’s first truly self-protecting storage.“