FalconStor, Bell Micro Package Storage Networking Appliances

The two recently started producing turnkey appliances based on two of Melville, N.Y.-based FalconStor&s main product lines.

One series of appliances uses FalconStor&s VirtualTape Library software, which transforms a standard server with hard drives into a virtual tape library for backing up SAN data over Fibre Channel, iSCSI or NDMP protocols.

The other series, based on the company&s iSCSI Storage Server software, endows Windows-based servers with snapshot, replication, and backup and restore services over IP networks. The appliance also allows mirroring and clustered services.

Steve Bishop, vice president of marketing at VeriStor Systems, a storage solution provider and FalconStor partner in Atlanta, said he appreciated the notion of a turnkey appliance.

“Some people like to deal with an integrated product, but a lot of customers like the white-box approach,” he said. “For us, it would be nice to source as an appliance.”

Another FalconStor solution provider, however, said others have tried to bundle the software with a server as an appliance with limited success. Wendy Petty, vice president of North American sales at FalconStor, said the effort with Bell Micro, San Jose, Calif., is aimed at supporting partners serving small to midsize businesses.

If they choose, solution providers can continue to source FalconStor software as before, Petty said.

The Bell Micro-integrated VirtualTape Library appliance carries a list price of $9,995 for 1 Tbyte of capacity and iSCSI connectivity. A 3-Tbyte version with Fibre Channel connectivity starts at $24,995. Both are currently shipping, Petty said. The iSCSI appliance, also shipping, is $7,995 with 1 Tbyte of capacity.

Bell Micro is currently the only distributor integrating the FalconStor software into an appliance, but Petty said the company may work with others in the future.