Features - Storage Innovations:

FALCONSTOR AND NETWORK ENGINES DELIVER VTL APPLIANCE

FalconStor Software Inc, a leading developer of network storage infrastructure software solutions, and Network Engines Inc, a leading development, manufacturing and distribution partner for storage and security software and equipment providers, announced general availability of the Virtual Tape Library Appliance (VTLTM Appliance) powered by IPStor, at the Storage Decisions 2003 conference.

The VTL Appliance is the first standalone, turnkey solution of its kind for FalconStor, leveraging the development, manufacturing and distribution capabilities of Network Engines with the network storage expertise of FalconStor. Utilizing industry standard disk and IP SAN or Fibre Channel, the VTL Appliance is designed to accelerate the backup and restoration of data with minimal operating cost while consolidating the management and provisioning of backup resources. The VTL Appliance's ability to leverage storage devices from leading industry players to perform I/O load balancing, and transparent storage controller failover/failback, enables the VTL appliance to offer the highest degree of performance, reliability and availability.

"This new VTL Appliance is the first cost effective product on the market to address this need and deliver enterprise level functionality for companies of any size," said Chuck Swanger, director of Enterprise Solutions for SARCOM, Inc. "Combining the technology expertise of FalconStor and Network Engines has resulted in a unique solution that eliminates the need for a rigid backup window without re-architecting the backup infrastructure and procedures. This is the type of solution we need to better support our customers, leverage our chosen storage solutions, and open new revenue opportunities for our company."

"An archived file, email or database is an example of data that has infrequent use, but, when it's needed to be restored, it's needed immediately," said Michael Karp, senior analyst at Enterprise Management Associates. "Businesses had to make a choice between expensive disk with fast access, or tape that was less expensive than disk, but also slower. FalconStor and Network Engines have teamed to take advantage of economical disk to deliver a cost effective solution that is also fast."

The VTL Appliance increases the speed and reliability of existing third party backup applications by using disks to emulate industry standard tape libraries. The VTL Appliance transfers data to and restores it from a disk-based virtual tape at ultra high speeds, and maximizes reliability by removing physical tape media errors and robotic mechanical failures.

Other features of the VTL Appliance include:

• End-to-end path/appliance/storage high availability for non-stop backup and restore operations when configured in pairs
• Movement of data at any time of the day between the VTL Appliance's disk-based virtual tapes and physical tape media as a secondary task, and can be done without impact to application performance
• Remote vaulting and offsite tape storage by provisioning virtual tape media and libraries over an IP network
• Facilitation of the consolidation and provisioning of backup resources (tape library and media) to lower administrative costs. The VTL Appliance is offered as a stand-alone appliance or as a bundled solution through Network Engines with certified storage array options in different storage capacities. MSRP starts at $15,900 for the IP Edition, and $29,900 for the Fibre Channel Edition. Both models are available through TidalWire, a Network Engines company.