Delivers High-Performance, Massively Scalable File System – Early Partners Include SeaChange and Rorke Data

MELVILLE, N.Y. -- FalconStor Software, Inc. (NASDAQ: FALC), the provider of TOTALLY Open™ data protection solutions, today announced the FalconStor® HyperFS™ file system, a high-performance, massively scalable solution for data-intensive applications that generate very large numbers of files. The HyperFS solution is an innovative file system that simplifies the management of large files, providing high-speed, low-latency file access to heterogeneous clients across a global repository that meets the performance and scalability challenges of the most demanding media and entertainment applications.

Rorke Data, a FalconStor partner, has integrated the HyperFS file system into its Galaxy Aurora family of storage area network (SAN) appliances to create a turnkey storage solution designed for post production, video-on-demand, content distribution, broadcast and other rich media environments. Featuring FalconStor’s HyperFS file system, this new storage server solution will be on display at Rorke Data’s booth, SL9629, at the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB) conference in Las Vegas, April 12 to 15.

The HyperFS file system simplifies management of and access to large numbers of multiple types of files, substantially reducing storage capital and operational expenses; it optimizes storage performance by providing a single global name space*, up to 144 petabytes of storage capacity, and gigabyte-level transmission bandwidth that supports hundreds of shared clients. The HyperFS file system meets the demanding requirements of the media and entertainment market by supporting massive data sets, concurrent heterogeneous multi-user access, high performance, low latency and highly scalable storage capacity in a single pool of storage. With today’s all-digital motion pictures generating up to two petabytes of data or more, the HyperFS file system allows users to manage their assets in one place that is easily accessible at all points in their digital workflow. As an open software platform, the HyperFS file system runs on any storage hardware and supports Mac OS X, Microsoft Windows and Linux clients in a shared infrastructure.

“The amount of data under management in the media and entertainment market is astounding and continues to accelerate as a result of today's digital technology,” said Noemi Greyzdorf, IDC research manager with IDC's Storage Software. “FalconStor’s HyperFS file system has been designed to address storage issues related to applications requiring high performance and very low latency, such as those commonly found in media and entertainment markets.”
 
“We designed the HyperFS file system to address a wide variety of applications across multiple industries that need to consolidate, manage and manipulate enormous amounts of data cost effectively,” said Steve Dalton, vice president and general manager of the Advanced File Systems Division of FalconStor Software. “We chose to focus on the media and entertainment marketplace first because this is where we make an immediate and significant contribution. We are answering the media industry’s dire need for a robust multi-tasking, high-performance, high-capacity storage management system as content continues to explode in quantity, size and complexity.”

HyperFS File System for Media and Entertainment
The HyperFS file system is ideal for media and entertainment applications, such as post, video-on-demand, broadcast and content distribution, where storage consolidation, cost reduction, simplification of storage resource management, massive scalability and high performance are critical to manage, edit, format and distribute large numbers of sizeable video, audio, and rich media files.

“Rorke Data’s M&E Division specializes in RAID, SAN, NAS and archive storage solutions for the post, film and broadcast markets,” said Bob Herzan, vice president of sales for the Media and Entertainment Division of Rorke Data, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Bell Microproducts (NASDAQ:BELM). “By leveraging FalconStor’s HyperFS file system, we can address the exacting needs of post-production editing environments as well as content distribution operations with a powerful turnkey solution that enhances our product offering for these demanding markets. The combination of the HyperFS file system and Rorke’s high performance patent pending Aurora SAN appliance raise the bar in both cost per gigabyte and network performance for the media and entertainment industry.”

FalconStor HyperFS File System Key Features and Benefits
- Transparent scalability, up to 144 petabytes of storage enables the consolidation of disparate storage resources into a single, easy-to-manage and capacity-optimized pool of storage
- High performance and low latency to handle I/O needed for rich media applications involving billions of objects or files
- Global name space and built-in network-attached storage (NAS) for a universal, consolidated file system accessible to all users
- Dedicated metadata server (MDS) supports up to 16 concurrent file systems to facilitate storage consolidation, scalability and smooth workflow
- Supports heterogeneous Microsoft Windows, Linux and Mac OS X clients and allows them to share files seamlessly
- Open architecture for hardware independence allows customers to choose the hardware platform that is most efficient and cost effective for their environment
- Comprehensive data protection when deployed with FalconStor® Network Storage Server (NSS) – built-in snapshots, WAN-optimized replication, and data migration for maximum data availability
- FalconStor NSS provides thin provisioning for maximum disk utilization to reduce storage costs and power consumption

FalconStor HyperFS Availability
FalconStor HyperFS file system is immediately available from Rorke Data Systems integrated with the Aurora SAN appliance. It is also available from FalconStor’s HyperFS-authorized solution provider partners as a standalone software application that runs on any storage hardware. In addition, the HyperFS file system is integrated into SeaChange International’s new Universal MediaLibrary™.

* A global name space is a heterogeneous, enterprise-wide abstraction of all file information, open to dynamic customization based on user-defined parameters, which enables effective file management in mixed environments.