Spectra Logic, the data storage innovator, has signed a joint partnership agreement with FalconStor Software Inc., where Spectra will integrate FalconStor® Virtual Tape Library and  deduplication software on its nTier Intelligent Secondary Storage (ISS) appliances. The bundled solution eliminates storage of redundant data on the nTier disk backup target while maintaining integration with the tape archive solution. Spectra Logic pre-configures and optimizes the nTier Deduplication feature to ensure it arrives ready to deploy, saving customers' hours of installation and configuration time.

"Spectra Logic is well established in disk and tape library-based data protection, backup and archive," said Bernie Wu, vice president of business development at FalconStor. "We are pleased to partner with Spectra and look forward to working with them to provide customers with easy to deploy, highly scalable, enterprise-proven virtual tape technology."

Spectra's nTier ISS disk backup products-the nTier300, 500 and 700-are scalable from 10TB to 600 TB logical capacity, and are ideal for SMB and enterprise customers. The new nTier300, at just 3U, is uniquely suited for remote offices with smaller data sets, and will begin shipping this week. Spectra's nTier ISS line, powered by FalconStor VTL software, offers replication, global deduplication and scalability for any sized customer.  The nTier300 is designed for small and distributed offices, the nTier500 for small to medium enterprises, and the nTier700 for large enterprises.

"Spectra's dedupe capability integrates with its BlueScale management interface, making it easy for organizations to leverage dedupe for disk-based backup and archive," said Heidi Biggar, analyst for ESG. "Further, Spectra's dedupe capability makes it possible for organizations with multiple remote offices to de-duplicate data across sites before any data is moved over the WAN, making the dedupe impact that much greater."

"Adding deduplication is a natural addition to Spectra Logic's feature set, given its high customer demand," said Nathan Thompson, Spectra Logic's CEO. "The FalconStor partnership is a perfect match and helps further Spectra Logic's dedication to secondary storage. Spectra can now offer global replication and deduplication capabilities to tens of thousands of existing tape library users, and open the doors for new business opportunities."

Pricing and GA
The Spectra nTier300 offers a virtual tape library (VTL) interface, FC or Ethernet connections, remote replication and global deduplication with an average of 20:1 data compression.  Spectra nTier Deduplication begins shipping this week. Entry-level list pricing for an nTier300 with deduplication functionality begins at $12,500. Spectra will also offer FalconStor's enterprise solutions, which have the capability to scale beyond 1PB of logical storage.