Take Charge Of Custom Storage Options

For IT executives who want to consolidate storage-management capabilities, nothing's finer than a healthy helping of vendor competition. It's especially important in this industry, in which vendors are far from the extensive coverage and simplicity that storage networking customers require. FalconStor Software Inc. this week will unveil a single product that handles multiple tasks, surpassing market leader Veritas Software Inc.

Two years ago, FalconStor started selling IPStor virtualization software for any open-systems storage architecture. IPStor creates a layer of middleware between servers and storage systems that lets customers change levels of capacity for applications as needed. Without virtualization software, servers and storage systems won't work with any other system, and changes often mean buying new gear.

IPStor Version 3 gives customers new capabilities. A Service Enabler option lets them choose the features they want running at different times. Administrators can turn off the virtualization engine when they're replicating data from one source to another. Version 3 also includes agents for important platforms such as Lotus Notes, Microsoft Exchange, and Oracle 9i, so administrators can copy and move information from the applications to the storage server while they're up and running.

The IPStorSentry option, which can be purchased with IPStor initially or be added later, helps to protect Exchange, Notes, Windows, and SQL 2000 from hackers at the application-server level by using key-based storage access control.

With its single product, FalconStor can do what Veritas can accomplish only with three or four products, says Yankee Group analyst Jamie Gruener. "FalconStor gives customers an option to figure out what's best for them," he says.

IPStor Version 3 is priced at $10,000 per Linux server and $20,000 per Solaris software; storage services will be priced at $3,000 to $20,000 per server.