BridgeSTOR Announces Hardware Data Deduplication and Compression for Microsoft Windows File Servers

POWAY, CA--(Marketwire - Oct 4, 2011) - BridgeSTOR, LLC, redefining the cost per terabyte equation through advanced data reduction technology, today announced its Dedupe Card for Microsoft Windows Server 2008 Shared Network Storage. The new offering includes a PCIe card-resident data reduction processor and accompanying software that adds block-level data deduplication, compression, thin provisioning and strong encryption to Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 Network Attached Storage (NAS). BridgeSTOR's Dedupe Card enables network storage administrators to affordably add highly advanced data reduction technology to new and/or existing Windows 2008 servers acting as file servers.

BridgeSTOR now, for the first time, enables organizations using Windows-based NAS to add the capital and operating expense savings of capacity-multiplying data deduplication and compression that operates transparently in-line with little or no performance impact.

Reducing the amount of NAS data stored by 35 to 60 percent -- a 1.5:1 to 2.5:1 data reduction ratio -- the BridgeSTOR Dedupe Card simply and cost-effectively transforms physical disk capacity into capacity-optimized shared storage. The BridgeSTOR Dedupe Card is a user-installed combination of a dedicated data reduction processor installed on a PCIe card and specialized software available for suitably equipped HP ProLiant DL180, DL185, Dell PowerEdge R510, R610, R710 and R810 and IBM x-Series M2 and M3 servers.

To optimize performance, servers in which the Dedupe Card are installed should use internal disk drives, or low latency external SAS- or Fibre Channel-attached disk storage.

The hardware component of the BridgeSTOR Dedupe Card for DPM is the Exar, Inc. 8200 Series data reduction and security processor installed on a PCIe (x4) card. The Exar 8200 Series processor is a specialized, high-performance component that enables data deduplication, compression and encryption to be performed in-line without compromising performance or burdening the main system processor.

"Dedupe layer" software supplied by BridgeSTOR with the Dedupe Card for NAS adds the GUI, drivers, deduplication and compression processing logic, system interfaces, block manager and utilities required to implement data deduplication, compression and enhanced security in a Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 network storage environment.

BridgeSTOR is standing behind the effectiveness of its advanced data reduction by offering the industry's first money-back data reduction guarantee. The "35%/35-Day Guarantee" program ensures that buyers will require a minimum of 35% less storage when compared to a baseline of traditional storage within 35 days of the BridgeSTOR product being placed into production, or the buyer can return the product to BridgeSTOR for a full refund of the purchase price.

The product includes a User Guide containing a set of detailed installation, configuration and performance optimization instructions, telephone-based implementation assistance and a one-year warranty on the hardware and software.

"Microsoft's Windows Server 2008 is a popular platform for NAS and file sharing in businesses, departments and workgroups. BridgeSTOR's Dedupe Card enables storage administrators to reduce their disk capacity requirements from 35 percent to 60 percent while optionally adding encryption," said John Matze, BridgeSTOR founder and CEO. "The value of NAS deduplication is easy to understand. Just think about a dozen office workers storing a copy of an email attachment on their home directories. BridgeSTOR's Dedupe Card installs in new or existing Windows 2008 servers to produce immediate cost savings by deduplicating and compressing NTFS clusters to require the purchase of fewer disk drives while offering on-going operational savings."

By combining data deduplication, compression and thin provisioning to reduce file sharing storage requirements, BridgeSTOR's Dedupe Card for NAS reduces the cost of acquiring storage hardware and provides on-going reductions in operational expenses including electrical power, cooling, rack space and post-warranty support.

Deduplication removes duplicate blocks from file and application data. Compression works on the deduplicated data, as well as on blocks that do not deduplicate, shrinking the amount of capacity required to hold shared data by 35 percent to 60 percent.

Pricing for BridgeSTOR's Dedupe Card is based on the capacity of the physical storage subject to deduplication and compression. Prices starts at $995 to deduplicate and compress up to 8TB of physical storage. The Dedupe Card for Windows Server 2008 Shared Network Storage is available through the BridgeSTOR website as well as through selected partners. Please see http://www.bridgestor.com/products/reduction-cards/deduplication.html# for more information.

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