Wednesday, October 17, 2007

FalconStor Unveils A Virtual, Virtual Tape Appliance


FalconStor Software is adding to the slowly-growing number of virtual storage appliances with the introduction this week of its new virtual virtual tape library.
It is one of two new virtual tape libraries the company is introducing this week aimed at bringing down the cost of the technology.


Virtual tape libraries, or VTLs, are disk arrays configured to look to the host server and the backup software as if they are physical tape libraries. Data is streamed to and recovered from the VTL as if it were tape, so no changes are needed to the backup process. However, because they use hard drives, the backup and recover speed is much higher than when using tape drives. Data backed up to a VTL can also be backed up to a physical tape for archiving or off-site storage.


The FalconStor VTL Virtual Appliance is a pre-configured, ready-to-run software application with an operating system that can be downloaded into a virtual machine using VMware, said John Lallier, vice president of product management for the vendor.


FalconStor this week also introduced a new family of low-cost physical VTLs. The primary differences between the virtual and the physical appliances is its price and the fact that the virtual VTL performance is limited compared to the hardware versions.


Both the virtual and the physical VTL appliances include FalconStor's Single Instance Repository de-duplication technology.


De-duplication, also called "de-dupe," removes duplicate information as data is backed up or archived. It can be done on the file level, where duplicate files are replaced with a marker pointing to one copy of the file, and/or at the sub-file or byte level, where duplicate bytes of data are removed, resulting in a significant decrease in storage capacity requirements.


It is only the latest in a handful of virtual storage appliances which do the same function as hardware-based appliances but which run on a virtual machine built using VMware.


FalconStor last month unveiled its first virtual storage appliance, one which does continuous data protection between physical and/or virtual servers. It is aimed at helping customers do LAN-less data backups and archiving as well as build disaster recovery architectures which rely on virtual servers at the remote site.


Last month also saw EMC introduce a virtual data de-duplication appliance using technology it received from its Avamar acquisition.


Steve Bishop, CTO of VeriStor Systems, an Atlanta-based storage solution provider, said he is seeing a number of vendors starting to move to offer virtual storage appliances.


"Customers are asking, can their storage applications be virtualized?" Bishop said. "We're seeing a lot of interest."


Greg Knieriemen, vice president of marketing at Chi, a Cleveland, Ohio-based FalconStor partner which has already had good success with the vendor's virtual CDP appliance, said a virtual VTL could help open the market for replacing tape with disk-based storage.


"We're selling VTLs to SMBs and enterprises, across the board," Knieriemen said. "It's a 50-50 split. But there's a much larger base of SMB customers. The SMB adoption of VTLs is still marginalized. This could really open the door for VTLs in the SMB market."


Both Bishop and Knieriemen said the $8,000 list price for the FalconStor virtual VTL is a good price, when compared to physical VTLs.


However, because of the slower performance of the virtual VTL appliance compared to hardware appliances, the right choice for customers depends on a number of factors, including backup performance requirements, customer size, what virtualization environment is available, how many virtual machines are in use, and what the customer's backup window looks like, Knieriemen said.


"You have to really develop a complete profile of the customer," he said.


Wendy Petty, vice president of sales at FalconStor, said the virtual VTL appliance makes it easy for customers or solution providers to test the vendor's VTL software.


"Just download the VTL appliance, and you can test the software as a proof-of-concept," Petty said. "It's very, very simple. You don't need to send a hardware out to test it."


With their de-dupe capability, the virtual VTL appliances are also good for small remote offices, Petty said. "Partners can offer a solution that saves customers money," she said. "They can take the management from the remote offices, where backups are not normally done anyway. And they can do global de-dupe with our patented replication."


For customers looking for higher performance, FalconStor also unveiled three new VTL hardware appliances.


The VTL-S6 can be configured for up to four different tape libraries with a total of 16 virtual tape drives and 1,024 tapes, for a maximum pre-de-dupe capacity of up to 50 Tbytes. It has a backup speed of 200 Mbytes per second.


The VTL-S12 can be configured for up to eight different tape libraries with a total of 32 virtual tape drives and 2,048 tapes, for a maximum pre-de-dupe capacity of up to 100 Tbytes. It has a backup speed of 250 Mbytes per second.


The VTL-S24 can be configured for up to 16 different tape libraries with a total of 64 virtual tape drives and 4,096 tapes, for a maximum pre-de-dupe capacity of up to 200 Tbytes. It has a backup speed of 300 Mbytes per second.


The virtual VTL appliance, model VTL-V3, can be configured for up to 4 different tape libraries with a total of 16 virtual tape drives and 1,024 tapes, for a maximum pre-de-dupe capacity of up to 40 Tbytes. It has a backup speed of 60 Mbytes per second.


All four VTLs are available. The VTL-V3 is priced at $8,000, while the VTL-6 is priced at about $20,000. Replication software is available as an option for $3,000 to $8,000, depending on capacity. A Fibre Channel connectivity option is available for the three hardware appliances with a price of $3,000 to $8,000.




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Industrial Nanotech, Inc. Announces New International Supply Chain Expansion


Nanotech business is becoming the most precious business in the world following the upgrowing demand and service of the sector


Industrial Nanotech, Inc. (Pink Sheets:INTK), an emerging global leader in nanotechnology, announced today that the Company has severed its relationship with Mercatus & Partners Group, of Rome, Italy as joint venture partners for a manufacturing facility in Italy and is moving to expand the Company's supply chain for Europe, the Middle East, and Asia with manufacturing in Budapest, Hungary and a fulfillment center in Shanghai, China.


Stuart Burchill, CEO of Industrial Nanotech, Inc., states, "The relationship with Mercatus & Partners Group was not productive or suitable for Industrial Nanotech, Inc. and we have terminated the relationship. However, pending deals make it a priority that we ramp up our ability to provide large quantities of product on a regular basis to Europe, the Middle East, and China. We are currently in negotiations with a facility in Budapest, where one of our key coating scientists maintains professional relationships sufficient to provide day to day quality control monitoring, to provide our Company with manufacturing capabilities and we plan to utilize the services of a fulfillment center in Shanghai. This strategy represents the most cost effective way to implement an efficient supply chain to meet our needs in these regions and without a major capital expenditure and with consideration for the protection of our valuable intellectual property."


About Industrial Nanotech, Inc.


Industrial Nanotech Inc. is rapidly emerging as a global nanoscience solutions and research leader. The Company develops and commercializes new and innovative applications for nanotechnology. Additional information about the Company and its products can be found at their websites www.industrial-nanotech.com and www.nansulate.com.


About Nansulate(R)


Nansulate(R) is the Company's patented product line of specialty coatings containing a nanotechnology based material and which are well-documented to provide the combined performance qualities of thermal insulation, corrosion prevention, resistance to mold growth and lead encapsulation in an environmentally safe, water-based, coating formulation. The Nansulate(R) Product Line includes both industrial and residential coatings.


Safe Harbor Statement


Safe Harbor Statement under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995: This release includes forward-looking statements made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that involve risks and uncertainties including, but not limited to, the impact of competitive products, the ability to meet customer demand, the ability to manage growth, acquisitions of technology, equipment, or human resources, the effect of economic and business conditions, and the ability to attract and retain skilled personnel. The Company is not obligated to revise or update any forward-looking statements in order to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after the date of this release.


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