Virtual SAN Appliance for VMware ESX by FalconStor

FalconStor Software, Inc. announced Network Storage Server (NSS) Virtual Appliance for VMware ESX, enabling customers to transform their existing direct-attached storage into an iSCSI virtual SAN appliance for VMware environments. The FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance has been validated by the VMware Ready Virtual Appliance program, assuring customers of its full compatibility with VMware.

By offering trial downloads and a free limited version of FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance, FalconStor is helping to accelerate adoption of virtualization throughout the small-to-medium sized business (SMB) and remote-office markets.

"FalconStor is delivering on its continued commitment to providing a complete line of virtual storage and data protection solutions for VMware environments in all segments of the market," said Bernie Wu, FalconStor vice president of business development. "FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance extends our enterprise-class storage offering to the remote office and SMB markets, and the free version evangelizes the benefits of virtualization to a much broader audience."

FalconStor NSS is an enterprise-class software storage solution that offers storage virtualization, provisioning, management and data protection. The FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance is built for VMware ESX and enables the creation of iSCSI SANs based on the server’s internal storage resources, making it an ideal solution for SMB as well as remote branch offices of large enterprises that are consolidating servers and storage with virtual machines and virtual SAN appliances.

With application-aware snapshot and replication technology, FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance protects a broad range of critical business applications running on VMware virtual machines, including: Microsoft SQL Server, Exchange Server and SharePoint Server; Oracle Database; Lotus Notes; Sybase Database Management; IBM DB2; and more.

"FalconStor is providing customers with an easy, affordable virtualization path to secure their applications," said Parag Patel, vice president, alliances for VMware. “VMware is making huge strides in lowering the cost of managing valuable IT resources for enterprise IT infrastructures. With the FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance, SMB customers can easily deploy cost-effective iSCSI virtual SAN appliances, enabling them to enjoy the advantages of virtual storage and VMware flexibility and resiliency.”

PAC Worldwide, a developer and manufacturer of packaging and shipping solutions to multinational corporations worldwide, has implemented FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance in its IT environment. "As the demands on our IT infrastructure and business applications increased, we were faced with exploring the purchase of additional hardware for a physical SAN in multiple manufacturing facilities,” said Jeff Snow, CFO of PAC Worldwide. “But once we looked at the benefits of virtual servers and storage to address our expanding capacity and data-protection requirements, we went with the combination of FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance and VMware Infrastructure. Because our business-to-business supply-chain applications support manufacturing facilities all over the world, we have peace of mind knowing our data is protected and can be replicated to one of our remote facilities as a key component of our business continuity and disaster-recovery planning.”

FalconStor is working with SYNNEX Corporation, a leading business process services company, to create solution accelerators that simplify packaging and speed virtualization adoption in small and medium-sized businesses. Channel partners will have an easier way to help their customers achieve affordable server and storage consolidation. “With the advent of FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance, we are given the opportunity to empower the channel to provide complete, simple virtualization solutions to companies that are exploring the latest in virtualization technologies,” said Steve Ichinaga, senior vice president and general manager, Systems Integration Division, for SYNNEX Corporation.

“FalconStor Software’s NSS VA allows us to empower our customers with cost-effective enterprise-class virtualization and data protection solutions that are simple to deploy,” said Brian McKinley, president and owner of Network Architects, a FalconStor Software channel partner in Bellevue, Wash. “Now we can enable our customers’ remote and branch offices with the same level of data protection that they have in their data centers while consolidating their IT infrastructure and management operations.”

FalconStor’s entire virtual appliance suite is available on the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace—the industry’s largest online directory of virtual appliances, with more than 900 available for download. Virtual appliance versions of FalconStor Network Storage Server (NSS), FalconStor Continuous Data Protector (CDP), and FalconStor Virtual Tape Library (VTL) with de-duplication are available for download on the Virtual Appliance Marketplace.

A trial version of FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance can be downloaded from the FalconStor website and from the VMware Virtual Appliance Marketplace as of Sept. 16th, 2008. This full-featured version includes patented FalconStor MicroScan replication technology with built-in WAN acceleration and high-availability storage. FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance has gained VMware Ready validation, assuring customers that it is fully compatibility with VMware Infrastructure.

In addition, a free, limited version of FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance can be downloaded beginning Sept. 16, 2008. The FalconStor NSS Virtual Appliance free edition is a pre-built, pre-configured, and ready-to-run virtual SAN appliance for VMware ESX and VMware ESXi.